Memorial Day

Over Memorial Day my Mom came to vistit for a long weekend.  And this is what we do:

I watch while she makes me momma's home cookin!  Ha!  Mmmmm, fried noodles?  Yes please!  Aisan vegetables?  Yep!  This is my comfort food.  It was so nice to go to the Asian market with Mom and get to eat some of her cooking for several days.

We made sure to go out for dim sum a couple of times.  It is so much better when she is there because she knows what everything is and she can converse with servers and get us the best stuff.  She tried to teach me how to say some things in Chinese but I'm pretty sure my accent is atrocious because it doesn't seem like anyone can ever undersatnd me. 

We went to church and Marlene and Roy asked one of the members if we could come by and see the train set he and a friend had worked on for years.  It was amazing!  Here is the New Orleans section:

The Chicago section:

I thought this was hilarious - someone actually in the outhouse!  The attention to detail in this model is just unbelievable!

I had to take a picture of this flyer because the band "The Fray" actually used to practice in the room where the model is before they became famous (one of the model builders is the grandfather of the drummer).

One day we went to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  It is such a beautfiul place (so devastating that it's on fire right now) and I'm so glad Mom got to see it.

We also went to Pike's Peak.  It was amazing how cold it was up there!!!

We indulged in some high elevation donuts.

We had so much fun!  It was so nice having my momma come visit me for several days. 



Phoenix

Last month I got to go to Phoenix for PWC's School of Mines and lucky for me one of my oldest friends, Lindsay, and her husband Ryan (who I also grew up with) and their daughter Lily live in Scottsdale.  It was so much fun to see them all and go out for dinner at the delicious Chelsea's Kitchen.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture.

One of the days of the conference was a tour of a copper mine in Bagdad, AZ.  It was quite the adventure to get there.  The buses showed up 2 hours late (which matters when the trip is 2-3 hours) and it was so warm out the air conditioning could not keep up.  It certainly didn't help that we were all in jeans and long-sleeved shirts.  Once we got there, the tour was very interesting.  Here a few of my colleagues and I pose by a giant hauler.

Here I am right by it's tire.

Copper!

The open pit copper mine:

The best part of the trip :)

One night a few of us went out for Greek food at Athena's with my Greek colleague John.  Yum!

Photo Dump

Random pictures from May:

What a sweet angel:

Ryan and Brian:

Ryan working on the deck.  Story of his life.

Attack dog:

The only thing I'm missing here is my partner in crime - Linda:

Ryan prepping for his spin class audition.  He nailed it and now teaches the 6:30 am class on Wednesday at Personal Best.

Us after he kicked my tail in class:

At Amy's surpises birthday party - "Movie in the Park":

Big Time

Looks like I have a few weeks to catch up on!  The second weekend in May, Mark, Wendy, Kya, and Cole and Wendy's best friend Shelli came out to visit.  Kya was very excited to see the pups.

Mark and his sippy cup at Udi's.

Playing Apples to Apples:

The kids were very excited they got to choose toys to play with at The Egg & I

Posing in various hats at the Army/Navy store in Olde Town:

 Trying to swing as high as Uncle Ryan:

Playing at Big Time (because the weather was kind of chilly all weekend long):

 Chilling at home:

It's always a great weekend when we get to see family!