Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve in Cave Creek with some Blue Hill friends, the Abrahamsons, who also spend the winter here.  We all toasted in the New Year (EST) with margaritas and an outdoor warming fire with Flash playing in the background, just like at Last Night! in Blue Hill, before enjoying a very special Southwestern chili unlike any we have ever tasted.  We stayed over at Ruthie and Doug's house, 36 minutes closer than our place, which meant we got to start off 2013 with some of our favorite folks here in Arizona!  (The photo is actually from a couple of days earlier when we joined R&D to watch some football, and Paul had asked us to set up a pillow on the couch so he could join us in spirit -- hence the Greenlaw 250 pillow being pointed to!)
Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year to everyone!

Around and about

As we heard about major snowfall in Blue Hill, we have made sure to get out and enjoy the milder weather here (although it has rained twice since we've been here!).  The landscape and vegetation is different, but the light is definitely different as well.  Here are a few of our favorite shots so far from the walk around the fountain, as well as one from the botanical walk here in Fountain Hills. (The fountain goes off for 15 minutes every hour.) We are still learning many of the names of the desert plants, but we can definitely identify the mighty saguaro cactus!  Ross thinks this one needs a dentist.

Christmas with a 3-year-old

     We have fallen behind in our blog, caught up in the busy-ness of connecting with family and friends for the holidays and getting settled into our winter "digs."  We seem to be catching our breath, so here are a couple of posts to catch you up.
     It was fun to see Christmas through the eyes of a 3-year-old, though Chloe was pretty relaxed about it all.  We enjoyed fun in the park, several special meals, multiple wardrobe changes, and nice time together with Brian, Chloe and Michele before they headed back to Chandler and we headed to Scottsdale to catch up with the Groff clan.  A Merry Christmas was had by all!