First pitch

Larry earned the honor of throwing out the first pitch at the Oakland Athletics home game against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday at Phoenix Muni. So we rallied the troops and went out to support him and to enjoy a beautiful day!

Neighborhood camping trip

For the last weekend of Katie's spring break, we went camping in White Canyon with our neighbors Kris, Courtney, Andrew and their future-baby.

Katie and Andrew had a blast playing in the spring and exploring all around the campsite together. Naturally, Sally wore herself out following them everywhere they went.

Southern Arizona weekend

Last year we started a tradition of getting out of town and exploring Arizona on Whit's birthday. So this year we chose to explore southeastern Arizona.

We began with a trip to Arizona's wine country. We stopped at the Callahan Winery in Elgin, Arizona for wine tasting. We continued on to Bisbee, Arizona with enough time to catch the Arizona basketball game. We walked around the town and soaked in the history while Whit took photos (a new favorite hobby thanks to new camera).

After the Arizona basketball game, Whit ran into 2 bikers outside the bar. One biker was wearing a University of Nebraska fleece so naturally, Whit started a conversation. After just a few minutes, Whit discovered that her new biker friend, Allen Poore, had her mother's maiden name and ties to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Allen was convinced they were relatives and began buying drinks for "Scott and Whitney Poore." A quick call to mom and Gramma Poore revealed that Allen's father, Robert Poore, was Whitney's grandfather's cousin. HOW BIZARRE.

The next day Scott and Whitney visited the Queen Mine and took the tour. Whit was nervous but emerged fascinated by mines and mining operations. After the tour, we skipped town and headed off on our Ghost Town tour. We visited Gleeson, Courtland and Pearce, Arizona. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-ghosttowntrail.html

Sunday morning alternative

Scott and I had started hiking with friends on Sunday mornings recently, but this week we decided to change the location and instead, try to make it a family outing. So we tossed Sally and Katie in the car and headed to Larry and Judy's house. Uncle Pat and Andrew decided to join us as well.

Andrew and Katie enjoyed the opportunity to hang out on a beautiful day outdoors...

Katie's Skirt Chaser Race

Katie's running club at school signed up to run in the Skirt Chaser Race, a 1 mile race at Tempe Town Lake. Her schoolmates all wore Hula Skirts...and most of the daddy-runners did too.

Katie finally convinced Whit to run with her in the race and she had a lot of fun running with both Whitney and daddy.

Home Improvement

After a few months of marriage and co-habitation, we decided we needed to renovate our master closet to give us more space. After all, our house has 10 foot ceilings and there was lots of extra space just begging to be maximized.

I called around and got a few outrageous quotes for custom closet designs and eventually Scott said it was something we could build together. So I drew up some designs and Scott and I brainstormed how to actually build my dream closet.

Then the fun part began, demolition (they really make it look like way more fun on HGTV) and construction. We are currently about 60% done with the closet. The "his" side is just about complete.

Here are a few photos of the beginning....

Adult Snow Vacation

Our good friends Jason and Shannon found a great deal on tickets to Salt Lake City, so naturally, we decided to go for the weekend. At the last minute, our friends Rob and Jan decided to fly up and join us (he works for US Airways so last minute travel decisions are second nature for them).

After quite the rental car episode, we headed out to the mountains on Friday with our boarding passes in hand (note to any powder hounds reading this: if you fly into Salt Lake City on any day, fill out a form and then go to any of the Park City ski resorts that day...you ski for free) and hit the slopes. The rental shop outfitted me with the most uncomfortable ski equipment so I quickly switched to snowboarding. I hopped on the lift with little hesitation (I kind of forgot I didn't have skis on) and wiped out HARD while getting off the lift. I made my way down a blue run...and then went immediately to the bar.

The temperatures in Park City were a bit too warm and produced lots of heavy snow and sleet. Lucky for us though, the temps in the mountains nearby were perfect for dumping LOTS and LOTS of snow. On Saturday we headed out to Brighton and were delighted to find lots of fresh powder. I again attempted snowboarding and was excited to see myself making progress. After a while, Scott, Jason and Shannon headed off to find the double black runs.

No one was hurt and good times were had by all...a successful trip indeed!

Kids Rock 2009

Katie's running club at school signed up to run in Kids Rock 2009, the kids version of the P.F. Chang's Marathon. So she and daddy ran the 1 mile race with hundreds of other 2nd graders in just under 12 minutes. Meanwhile I chased them around the course taking photos. I'm not really sure who ends up running more...

Frist Annual Light Rail Pub Crawl

Scott had the brilliant idea to organize a pub crawl utilizing Phoenix's newest, and only major public transportation system...the Light Rail.

So we did some homework and devised a plan for which bars to hit along the line. There are 28 stops and we did our best to find a bar for each stop. We rallied up a few of our friends and a few of their friends and headed out.

We began at the far west end of the line at Groggy's bar in Mesa at 3pm. We quit 13 stops later in downtown Phoenix at Hanny's when we realized we had 5 minutes to catch the last train home.

Thanks to everyone who showed up to help keep us company!!!

Snowy New Years Trip

Midway through the year, we decided that we weren't going to do a huge a Christmas celebration with lots of presents and toys. Our main present was going to be something that created memories. Stuck in the tree was a card telling her that we were planning to take her skiing in Colorado for New Years Eve. She was very excited about this.

Low and behold, Santa, who knew that Katie was going to be at her mom's house for Christmas brought Miss Katie a pink snow helmet and new ski goggles. Attached to the presents was a note from Mrs. Claus saying something to the effect of, "Santa and I wanted to make sure you had something for your daddy's house too." That Santa sure is clever!

We left Phoenix on December 30 to make the 10-hour drive to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. When we arrived at our rental house on New Years Eve, Katie discovered that the kids who had stayed there before us had left her 2 snow caves in the front yard. To say that she was happy and excited does not begin to describe her level of excitement. Our powder-hound friends Jason, Shannon and Chris met us there also. We played in the snow, played on the Wii, drank champagne/kid-friendly bubbly cider and hoped for snow.

The next day we enrolled Katie in ski school. She did outstanding!!! At the end of the day, Scott and I checked her out of school early and went on the small slopes with her. We ended the day with a HUGE smile on Katie's face. The next day we skiied on the green slopes with Katie and played mommy-duck and baby-duck. Katie quacked her way down the hill following in Whit's tracks like a professional. Both of us were very impressed with Katie's skill and toughness.

Friday night brought 6" of fresh powder to the house. It continued to snow into Saturday morning and when we arrived on the slopes bundled up to our eyeballs, Katie got a little cold, a little nervous, and a little whiny. So we went home and built snow forts and had snowball fights. It was a great day to play in the snow at home as it continued to snow all day...although it would have been fantastic conditions on the mountain.

Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2008

So despite this being our first Christmas together as a married couple and family, this year was a bit sad for us as Katie spent the holiday with her mom. However, we celebrated Christmas a week early with Katie by packing up a few mugs of hot chocolate and a bag of cookies, throwing her and Sally in the car and heading over to see the Tumbleweed Christmas Tree in Downtown Chandler.

The next morning we surprised her with her favorite breakfast (pancakes) and a surprise visit from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Larry. We opened presents and pretty much pretended it was Christmas morning. We tried our hardest to make the best out of the situation.

The following week, Scott's brother Mark and his wife Meridith flew in from Texas and kept us company over the real holiday. This was especially fun because Meridith is 7 months pregnant!! It was certainly nice to have guests around to keep us from feeling the empty house syndrome. Sally was especially happy to have Mark and Meridith in the house because they spoiled her. She was pretty sad when they left...as were we.

Scott's quest for the Territorial Cup

Ever since we first met in 2005, Scott and I have attended the ASU vs. UofA football game, otherwise known as the Territorial Cup. For those of you unfamiliar with this game, it is the oldest rivalry in college football involving the exchange of some sort of trophy. We've been loyal fans and attended the games in Tempe dressed in our red, white and navy blue, as well as the games in Tucson. The same cannot be said of our fair-weather ASU fan friends...

So this year we hopped in the car and headed down to Tucson all by ourselves...BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

After years of hosting Thanksgiving dinner, Scott and I decided to give Judy a break this year. So Katie and I made a few practice pumpkin pies and apparently they were OK becuase my coworkers demolished them. I called my mom about 15 times and got all her recipes and advice and decided we could tackle everything else on our own.

And we did. But just incase, we made sure to have plenty of champagne on hand.

Scott's grilled turkey was one of the best I've ever tasted (sorry mom) and all the fixins were completed on-time and edible. Both my mashed and sweet potatoes turned out to be sub-par, but there were enough other starches to devour. And the gravy was a challenge, but I'll be sure to practice again before the next holiday meal.

And after whining that the holidays never feel quite right to me here in Arizona, I got the closest thing I'll ever get to having a White Thanksgiving...hail.

Katie's Ironman

Miss Katie and Scott ran in the Kids Ironman race last weekend at Tempe Town Lake. The course was 1.13 miles and there were 700+ kids there. They divided the kids into age groups and she finished in roughly 11 minutes with a big smile on her face.

She watched the boys in her age group start off super fast and then when she passed them half way through the race she told Scott, "they must have gotten pooped from starting so fast."

Less mass-mailings

I'm generally opposed to blogs...it always seems to me like people screaming for attention, "Hey, look at me everyone. Read about my life. Look at all my pictures and see how much fun we're having!"

But recently, thanks mostly to Facebook, I've discovered that I actually really love reading what other people write and post on the internet. I love knowing what other people are up to and how their lives are changing/growing/aging.

And now that our family and good friends are spread out all over the country, it seems easier to post a blog every now and then rather than to send out an in-box clogging e-mail with stories and photos every time something happens that we want to share with people.

So now here I am, starting our Hayes family blog. Here's what we're up to in Arizona and how our family is changing/growing/aging...

ENJOY!!!