Hello Everyone,
Mara has a penguin for her clothes basket. She realized one night that it collapses and managed to get all of her dirty clothes out of it and climb in it. She was entertained for hours with it climbing in and out and pulling the clothes out and putting them back in.
We found a great hike south of downtown Phoenix that takes you up on top of South Mountain. We worked hard for 3 miles only to get to the top and discover a parking lot and a road that hundreds of others paid a park admission and drove up to see. It was worth earning the view. On the way down we stopped at a little cave between some rocks. Luckily it is warm but still been cool enough that rattlesnakes are hibernated for the time being.
This picture is from the same hike up South Mountain. For those that might think I am sporting a mullet, it is only the lighting, my hair is equally short in the back as on the sides. Mara loved the hiking other than she kept trying to pull herself around my back to see better. She stayed awake through most of it. It helps to have the dog as a back up that every time she gets fussy we just have to whistle and say "here puppy" and she gets this excited look and starts to make a barking noise imitation.
We are still alive, just been busy. This is Mark writing of course so the content won't be too pretty.
Crazy to think we are already almost done with January. Mara continues to grow and amaze us every day. Every so often her gibberish comes out with random words or phrases that you can't tell us aren't real words. She has a couple times in plain english said "I Love You" which just hits us so hard as one of those amazing experiences that make being a parent worth it.
Mara has a penguin for her clothes basket. She realized one night that it collapses and managed to get all of her dirty clothes out of it and climb in it. She was entertained for hours with it climbing in and out and pulling the clothes out and putting them back in.
We found a great hike south of downtown Phoenix that takes you up on top of South Mountain. We worked hard for 3 miles only to get to the top and discover a parking lot and a road that hundreds of others paid a park admission and drove up to see. It was worth earning the view. On the way down we stopped at a little cave between some rocks. Luckily it is warm but still been cool enough that rattlesnakes are hibernated for the time being.
Mara enjoys playing in the cabinets. Don't know if she can top Gracie's sleeping on the shelves but she'll probably try. I wish we had a lazy susan in this cabinet she would probably figure out how to spin herself around on it.
Life has been busy with my work. Prior to and since Christmas there have been a few layoffs at work that obviously can be a little unsettling in todays economy. I feel blessed though, and am still employed and doing my best to keep it that way. We just submitted a proposal last week to do work on a new People Mover system that will be going in at the Sky Harbor(Phoenix) Airport and connect the light rail system to the airport terminals and the airport to the car rental facility. Being a unique type of government work we don't get to find out right away if we get the project, instead they tell us they will let us know prior to(and possibly not until) July 1st. So we wait anticipatingly and continue to pursue other projects.
Phoenix they say is one of the 3 worst hit markets for construction, which originally was just residential, but now it is flowed over into the commercial side which is what we do. It is amazing to work on bids now that a year ago we had to fight to get 3 or 4 bids on each trade. Now we have bids coming in to us from up to and a couple times over 20 bidders in 1 trade alone. It is unfortunate but real side of how construction has been and probably will always be. Survival of the fittest is going on right now(or at least the luckiest). It helps us to have a company that is spread all across the US so other markets that are still doing okay make up for a slow down in Phoenix, etc. I'll spare the estimators rambling at that.
This picture is from the same hike up South Mountain. For those that might think I am sporting a mullet, it is only the lighting, my hair is equally short in the back as on the sides. Mara loved the hiking other than she kept trying to pull herself around my back to see better. She stayed awake through most of it. It helps to have the dog as a back up that every time she gets fussy we just have to whistle and say "here puppy" and she gets this excited look and starts to make a barking noise imitation.
We love you all and just to rub it in for those in the frigid climates where you are tired of the smog and cold and etc, etc, etc. Our furnace turned on the last time over 8 days ago and it has been up to 80 the past week. I don't mind it colder so we can say we at least get to use our blankets a couple of months a year. Yesterday it was so nice that we decided to fill up Mara's kiddie pool and let her swim out on the back lawn(or better said dirt area where grass once grew). She had a blast splashing water all over Stacy and talking with Mo(the dog) who still hasn't figured her out and seems to not realize she's there.
Well it is almost 12:30 at night and I should be in bed, so I shall say buenas noches and hasta.
5 comments:
Hooray for some new from you guys! Mara just keeps getting cuter! She'll probably be walking by the next time we see her! It's funny about your picture of her in the cupboard cause I just took a bunch of Lucas doing the same thing here.
also, if you think that she said a word, I'm sure she did. That's something I learned from Grace's speech therapist and I think it's a big reason that Luke is talking so much already. If you hear something like a word, it probably was one so encourage it and cheer for her for saying it. I bet she has lots more words start and they'll start to sound more like a correct word before you know it!
Miss you guys!
Thanks for the update, and how fun to hear things from Mark's perspective. We miss you! Thought of any more jokes, Stacy??
I'm glad you guys are still alive!! :) And Mark looks just like Tom Cruise in the bottom pic with Mara on his back. :)
We were wondering what you were up to. Its nice to "see" you again.
The pic with Mara in the sky is GORGEOUS. You could enter it into a contest and you'd surely win. I'm so glad you stopped by a couple of weeks ago. You brighten up my life!
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