Christmas Eve

Better late than never. Here are the last three months of activity in our house. Christmas Eve was really fun! Matt and I hosted our Christmas Eve open house which we open up to friend's who don't have family in town. If you are ever here on Christmas Eve and want to come over, consider yourself invited! Here is our mantel after Santa came, I made the stockings.

Matt and me out by the fire pit.

Friends enjoying drinks by the fire.

Cute Liam having more fun with a Christmas present box.

Keeping with Minch family tradition, Matt and I bought one big toy gift for all 3 kids to open on Christmas Eve. A mini basketball hoop, I am sure their parents liked that we are keeping it here.

Matt and Guy enjoying their hard work, they built this fire pit on the 23rd.

Crazy for Halloween

Sometimes I wonder if Matt thinks I have lost my marbles.  Like when I brought home a bag of fabric leaves from the dollar store and told him, I am going to glue all these on a wreath.  (Probably the only thing worse than if he thinks I have lost my marbles is that my mom said, good idea I'll help you.  It's genetic!)

Or when I had him get the two glitter skeletons that I bought on clearance last year out of the garage, only to have them sit in my grandpa's antique chair dressed as us.  (That part was mom's idea & also her words:who cares if you get glitter on the chair, it's only glitter) Another cute thing about these guys.  Mom was afraid Luke would be scared of them, so she told him they are the Boos.  So every morning Luke says Hi Boos.  At night Night-Night Boos.  I think they might stay and wear Santa Hats, I don't want Luke to miss them!

So I guess I am guilty of being one of those people who love Halloween. 

Speaking of crazy Minches and people who love Halloween.  Imagine Luke's excitement when he discovered that his Auntie had a tub filled with candy & play-doh that he could throw on the ground and squeal at.  (I am not sure what blogger's problem is but I can not get this picture turned the right way)

This is the table in our entry way.  The house motto, Keep Calm.  Matt is better at it than me. 

The spooky mantle

One of my three witches I bought in Cabo, years ago. 

The Raven.  I wanted to make a giant Raven silhouette in the front window and write Nevermore.  Maybe next year. 

 Happy Halloween to all!  We have plans to go to Sedona on Saturday and celebrate with Matt's family.  Then the big neighborhood trick or treat on Sunday.  I will post some pictures.

Monsoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Monsoon!  Just an hour and a half ago, I got home from work and went swimming with Poppy & Luke.  I went upstairs to do some studying when I heard the storm.  I went downstairs to see what was going on.  The wind was blowing, the rain was pouring.  Dad, Beckie and I got to work moving things off the patio so they wouldn't be blown away.  I went out to take this video, it's pretty short because I was getting blown away!

Kristin, Sorry if our Monsoon is stealing some of your birthday thunder on the blog.  (Pun intended!)

Update: Dad just informed me that the blue play ball Luke uses to torment Wally & Penny blew away.

Megan's 30th birthday party

Last night our friend Alex hosted Megan's birthday party at our house.  

The party was a great time.  The weather was about as perfect as you can get in Arizona in August.  

The cake, all the food and drinks were awesome.

Everyone had a great time, Matt and I were so tired today.  We went to bed at 3!

Happy birthday Megan!  We love you and think 30 is going to be your best year yet.  And for the record, Megan you have been on the Minch blog before.
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Our Valentine Visitors

Our friend's Jennifer & Justin came for a visit last weekend with their boys Rocco & Jacoby. We had a really fun weekend, with great dinners, time by the pool and a fun dinner out at one of our favorite places, White Chocolate Grill. The boys were cracking me up here eating my salsa!
Rocco loved Wally and kept asking me if he could keep him. Good thing Poppy Steve wasn't here, he would have sent Wally with Rocco!

Matt, Rocco and Jacoby having some Valentine pancakes :)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone! My brother in law, Matt took this picture on Christmas Day out by the pool, we were lucky for such a beautiful sunny day.

Matt and I had a really fun and busy Christmas with everyone at the Hotel Buechel. Mom, Beckie, Steve and Lukey arrived on the night of the 17th late. Matt fired up the awesome grill his dad got us for Christmas and cooked them some late night burgers. On the 18th we had a get together with some friends. Lukey (after watching our friends Jay & Analisa's son R.J. do it) learned to sprint rather than walk! This was a big surprise for Poppy who got here on Christmas Eve and saw his buddy Luke run across the room toward him. We all got to listen to him babble non-stop about Santa & Nana, guess we know who his favorite people are ;)
The guys played a lot of Wii games and while Beckie was busy being Super Mom, our Mom & I did a lot of cooking. I think the stand out recipe was the Arizona Egg rolls that we made up a recipe for.
We made a big Christmas dinner, and everyone sat in our dining room for the first time! It was really fun having Matt's family and my family together. Everyone gets along so well. It was fun seeing Lily, Liam and Luke all together. I hope that everyone who reads this blog also had a wonderful Christmas with the people they love just like I did.

As the holiday season is ending I came across a fun way to donate to St. Jude's, every year when I am taking down all the decorations, I never know what to do with all the Christmas Cards. I of course save the photo ones, but I found out that you can send your used Christmas Cards to St. Jude's. St. Jude's takes the front of the cards and the kids use them to make Christmas Cards for next year. All you have to do is throw them in an envelope. If anyone is interested, here is the web site. St. Jude's
And here is the address:
St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

I hope everyone has a wonderful year in 2010!
Jessie

Christmas Street in Scottsdale

Merry Christmas everyone! Matt and I wanted to share some of the pictures we took of our street tonight. This is the view when we are driving home.
This is the first house you see, his lights are programed to the Trans Siberian Orchestra song.

We love these two houses with their co-ordinating icicle lights.
This house also has music.
Finally the pretty Buechel house, all ready for our first Christmas guests on Thursday!

Days by the pool

Little Penny lounging around.

Wally trying to drink Poppy Steve's vodka tonic.

Penny on the diving board.

Dad's jump shot. I thought he was going in!

Mom dipping a toe in to see if the water is cold. It is! Down to 77.

Nights on the patio

The clouds before sunset.

The moon was full on Sunday night and amazing rising over the McDowell Mountians. I love how it made everything in the backyard all pink and glowy.

My mom and dad before her birthday dinner out.

All four of us.

Donna and Steve visit Scottsdale, go for a hike

Our house backs up to the canal and people always ask me what the canal is for, which I answer to transport water. Well here is what the city of Phoenix says about it.

My mom's birthday was Saturday. We got up and ate breakfast out on our patio, then we went for a hike in the trail system behind our house. There are coyotes, fox, rabbits, jack rabbits, javelina and all sorts of birds that live back there. We even saw a roadrunner!

Dad out did himself this year, getting mom a diamond bracelet for her birthday. Here he is showing it off :)

Matt and me with the McDowell Mountains behind us.

The pond in the preserve.

Donna and Steve on the trail.

More Scottsdale

Happy hour at Sapporro.

Devil's Martini.

Pool time.