Stuffed turkeys, and stuffed bellies

Last night we arrived back home from a great trip out to L.A. to visit Brian and Heather. They just moved into their beautiful new house a week ago, and were still willing to have some company. The house was built in the 1920s, and has a lot of the original charm mixed in with modern updates. For Thanksgiving, Brian got a deep-fried turkey that had a great Cajun seasoning (according to the meat-eaters), and I cooked the side dishes (just the basics).



On Friday, Brian, John, and I went to see Wake Forest play in the 76 Classic in Anaheim. Since there aren't too many Wake fans out there, we got seats right behind the Wake bench. We felt like we were part of the huddle, and could hear everything the coach was saying. John did have to watch his mouth (oh the pain!), since we knew the players could hear us too. We even made a bunch of the close-ups on ESPN2.

Anybody else like the guy right behind me? Doh!

The rest of the weekend was spent napping, unpacking, eating Yummy Cupcakes (which will make an appearance as Brian and Heather's wedding cake), and just hanging out. Loads of fun! Many thanks to Brian and Heather!

Big news, everyone!

Hey folks,
We've got some fun news. After two years with Winston as our best four-legged friend, we're putting an end to all of the speculation about who his parents were. He knows what his mother was, but he's not telling. As for his father, we don't know...I'm not sure if his mother was the type to "associate" with basset hounds or cairn terriers. As a goofy holiday gift to us, we have sent away Winston's blood to determine his breed make-up. We're using a test through our vet, called the Wisdom Panel that will test for over 150 different breeds. A lot of people do this to get an idea of potential health issues that go hand-in-hand with some breeds, but we're just curious about our little buddy. We'll get the results in a few weeks, so until then, feel free to comment with what you think he is. And, although the "Winston" breed would make the best breed ever, his kind begins and ends with him (snip, snip). To be continued....

The air is cooler....time for Election Day!

John and I just couldn't wait until November 4th to vote, so today we went together at lunch to participate in early voting. I know that McCain will likely win Arizona big-time, but I am so excited about Obama that I couldn't help feeling big and powerful filling in the bubble next to his name. There were several propositions that we had to read up on, ranging from eliminating payday loan practices to defining marriage as between a man and woman (which is ridiculous discrimination in my book, and redundant, as same-sex marriage is already prohibited...don't get me started!). Whatever your views, make sure to go out and vote!! You'll look as happy as me this afternoon (and get a sticker).

Birthday dog!

This past week we had a lot to celebrate. John and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out last night. To celebrate Winston's 2nd birthday, we invited our friends and their dogs to come play at the dog park. I made tasty "pup-cakes" for the dogs, and provided party hats for the dogs and plenty of tennis balls. It was a great time seeing all of the dogs play, even if Winston had no clue it was for his birthday. Here are some pictures:

The birthday dog!


Charlie with a party hat and a smile.

Buster was clueless about the hat.

Winston thanking me for a fun day.

Ripley, Winston, and Cooper sitting for Somer (or the cupcake in her hand).

Here are all of the pictures from the day:

Anniversary

Tomorrow marks the One Year Anniversary of our arrival into Tucson. While missing home and family a ton, we've carved out a nice little life for the Campbell Clan here. We've had our ups (kick-ass Europe trip, Winston's growing CV, my growing CV) and a few downs (ugh). Not much else to say, except that we are thankful to have friends and family back home that are wonderful enough to trigger such homesickness (so bittersweet), and thankful to have such wonderful friends, and each other, here to ease the homesickness. Paging Dr. Phil!

New photo found!

Brian looked at the pictures I posted yesterday, and realized one of them looked like a very old war photo he recently saw. Look carefully....

Summer of family!

Throughout this summer, we've had the fortune of having our parents all visit us in shifts. It was fun showing everyone around Tucson and spending some QT with everyone.

Johnnie and Colon stayed around after watching the house and Winston while we were in Europe. We celebrated Colon's birthday with a selection of tasty deserts (I liked the mini-tart you see me trying to inhale).

When Dad and Carol came, we went to the Air and Space Museum and the Desert Museum. Dad can never resist taking an opportunity to ham it up for the camera.


When Vann came out, we took him to Pheonix to watch the Diamondbacks play. It was cool watching Randy Johnson pitch for 6 innings.