Great Weekend in Arizona

SPRING TRAINING WEEKEND

We headed to Arizona last Thursday in our RV with Nicole, David and Gigi. Nick was able to drive, despite having had his 2nd rotator cuff surgery just a month ago! We met David's parents, Dan and Jeri there about 8:30 pm on Thursday night, at a very nice resort, Pueblo El Mirage RV and Golf Resort in El Mirage, Arizona. This resort is a lot nicer than the place we stayed at last year, with a fantastic clubhouse and recreation buildings with loads of activities, kid friendly, extended pool hours for kids (a big hit with Gigi), people friendly, a championship golf course (which Dan, Jeri and David played on Friday morning), and beautiful landscaping--lots of flowers, not just the usual cacti for a resort in the desert. It's about 20 minutes from both baseball parks we went to while we were there. We enjoyed hanging out during the days, riding bikes, going to the pool, etc.

Weather was nice, sunny,warm and breezy, in the low to mid 70's on Friday and Saturday, but quite a bit colder at night than we had expected, in the low 50's, when we were at the baseball games, where we sat on the grass in left fields both nights.

Friday night's game was at Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona, spring training home of the San Diego Padres. Padres beat LA 9-4. Met up with some old friends from San Diego at the game! Fun.Saturday night's game was at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, spring training home of the LA Dodgers. Padres beat LA again, 4-1. (woohoo!!)

Sunday morning we packed up the motorhome and headed back to Camelback Ranch for a day game between the Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians. We left the game early, for the long drive home, but the Dodgers were losing 11-1 in the 7th inning.

To see all our pictures go to our flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72308330@N00/sets/72157623675318046/

Memory Verses

"His Word in My Heart"

Last year Nicole and I joined Beth Moore's, “1st and 15th Siesta Scripture Memory Team "
along with thousands of women across the United States. At first it seemed like memorizing 2 verses a month wouldn't be that difficult. Well, I have to admit it was. I did choose my 24 verses for the year, and memorized a few, but I didn't actually, fully memorize all of them as I would have liked!

This year I'm going to try to memorize one verse a month, with Nicole and her "His Word in My Heart" (you can click on her button on my side bar for more information). For Christmas Nicole made me my own monthly memory verse kit, and Nicole describes it on her blog best when she says, "I’m excited to keep my verses safe in a little zipper pouch because I feel like when I zip them up in there it symbolizes them being “stored up” in my heart like one version of Psalm 119:11 says."

I do want to have more of God's word "stored up in my heart!"

SO here are my verses for the first three months of 2010:

My January verse: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

My February verse: God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV)

My March verse: Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14 (NIV)

My Version of the "Madness"

SPRING "MADNESS"

March and April look to be busy months, a kind of "madness" (no NOT basketball !) with all that will be happening. At the quilt shop I work at we've got the upcoming San Diego Cruisin' Quilters Shop Hop starting this Saturday, and I'm working a lot of extra hours and long days!

Then there are the planned getaways or happenings: a trip planned to Peoria, Arizona for Padres' Spring Training, for a long weekend, followed by a weekend Women's Retreat with my church. The next weekend we will celebrate Easter, followed by another weekend(YES! another) Brown Bag Quilt Retreat in Buellton. The third weekend in April we will have wonderful great friends and house guests to shower Angelina and Alex's baby Micah. To cap off the month of April we will be hosting a retirement party for two retired firefighters from Nick's fire department and then the last day of April is the Annual Appreciation Dinner put on by Rotary of Rancho Santa Fe for Fire and Security personnel!! I'm exhausted already.

Along with all those activities I do hope to complete a few projects in March:

(1) quilt and bind the quilt I am making for my niece Amalia and her new husband, Rick;(2) a machine appliqued, McKenna Ryan pattern for a "special" pillow for a very special friend

(3) a baby quilt for a new firefighter's daughterand (4) several cheerful, colorful pillowcases (similar to this one) for children who are sick with cancer or other serious illnesses for the ConKerr Cancer pillowcase project,
known as A Case for Smiles.Many quilt shops in southern California and all across the nation are participating in ConKerr Cancer by hosting" sew-ins" for making the pillowcases, collecting the cheerful pillowcases for the children who are sick and then donating them to local hospitals.

The pillowcases are really easy to make and basically take one yard of fabric (3/4 yd for the pillowcase body and 1/4 yd or so for the top border trim. If you have a heart for helping others by way of using your talents and love of sewing, go to the ConKerr Cancer website for information about the project in your area! If you'd like a free pattern just email me and I can send one to you.

Winter Olympics Come to an End!

My Love of the Winter Olympics

One of my most favorite things is watching The Olympics- especially the Winter Olympics, and Alpine Events, and Skating, of course. I Love the Olympics! I even enjoy watching the Nordic events, also known as cross country skiing. I also enjoy watching the Summer Olympics, especially the gymnastics events, but my heart has always had a fonder spot for the Winter games.

I grew up in Southern California in a suburb of LA in the San Fernando Valley. I started snow skiing when I was about 5 years old and skied my whole life (although I haven't skied in about 10 years now). We used to go to Mammoth Mountain many times every winter. When I was about 12 my parents and good family friends bought a lot in Mammoth and we built a cabin. The builder always said ours was the most insulated cabin up there because the women (2 moms and4 girls ages 9-14)) stuffed extra insulation in every nook and cranny we could!! So many fond memories from our cabin and skiing adventures in Mammoth. I remember missing school because we had gotten "snowed in!" Very exciting for a SoCal girl!! I remember spending many "Easter Vacations" skiing in jeans and t-shirt on a sunny day at Mammoth!

My childhood dream was to move up to Mammoth, join the ski team and ski in the Olympics! (Not that I was ever that caliber of a skier-nor was I that aggressive of a skier--but it was a dream of mine.) I loved the Olympics! So every four years when the Winter Olympics occur I can live out my dream watching the Alpine skiing events. Seeing Americans doing so well this year has been the best. I'm as thrilled for them as if I were one of their moms!!

I watched a tribute to the 1980 Gold Medal Ice Hockey Team, and even now, 30 years later I got goose bumps and tears welled in my eyes to watch them win again. I vividly remember being in my living room, watching this historic sports moment, and cheering as loudly as if I had been there, "USA! USA!" when they won. These Winter Olympics it looked as though Team USA might do it again; they played so well throughout the tournament. But, alas, it was not to be. Instead, Canada won in OT and the national anthem of "Oh Canada" echoed loadly in the arena. Team USA should be proud~ They won the Silver Medal, afterall, and although the Silver isn't as revered as the Gold, they also won the hearts of all of America! Did I mention I love the Olympics?! and as ABC Sports used to say, "the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of the defeat: I love it all!

Another dream has been to attend the Winter Olympics and Nick shares this dream. The excitement of being there amidst all the energy, Olympic spirit and thrilling moments would be such a great experience! So maybe we will attend the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, or another future games once he retires!!

With the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics came, too, the end of February. I finished several projects, listed on my side bar.

Many of the projects (for the CGGQClub and OPAM) I finished are gifts so I can't show pictures of all of them at this time. I did finish this cute "Crazy Eight Strip Teaser Table Topper", a large baby quilt for our grandson due in May, a few other projects(shh-they're a surprise also for Micah),
a few baby burp cloths, aka "Ni-nites",and the top for my niece's quilt (also a surprise).