Hangin' with the fam

Jared and I were able to spend a blissful (and desperately needed) 8 days in Flagstaff with my family. We had tons of fun, which could have only been better if 1) Brookey and Mike had been able to come and 2) If we all weren't violently ill. Ok, #2 is an exaggeration- but all of us were sick at one point or another. Regardless, we had a wicked good time.

First and foremost to the Wilkins clan is the food. While we enjoyed an delectible assortment of homemade food from Mom (including my traditional birthday meal of Swedish meatballs), we also graced a few restaraunts with our presence. The first one was Casa Bonita...muy delicioso! A couple days later (sadly Jan couldn't join because of work) we went to Beaver Street Brewery, which was equally exhilerating to our tastebuds. However, the highlight of that was when the waitress explained to Orson how they brew their own beer, and told him to come back when he was 21 to try it. He got that look that only Orson can do (why would someone drink beer?!?!?!), and gave her the funniest courtesy laugh I have ever heard!




We also went bowling as a family, YEEHAW! Here are Janalie and I in our size 15 shoes, foxy huh!
A family photo, with Orson flashing a cool peace sign, of course. He is one tough dude!

Look at the sheer concentration on Dad's face. Pretty sure in his head was the song "Eye of the Tiger"
Here we have an overly competitive Orson with an unbreakable focus!

No special story with this one, I just think Mom looks ravishing in her new fleece sweater!

We also went to Sedona for a couple of hours. Orson was totally bummed we didn't go swimming at Slide Rock, even after he saw it was frozen over he thought we should just break through the ice because it didn't look very thick (a direct quote). I love the mountains in the background of this picture- those who have never been, they are a reddish color.

Lovely ladies (in a very un- Les Miserables way).

My handsome hubby and I about to get hit by a car.

Jan and I in front of some random Indian wood-man.

And finally, the joys of Bass Pro. We went there multiple times because there is so much to see and do. Here is Dad, Orson and Jared practicing their hunting skills.

They also had a Nascar race thing set up, so Jared and Orson raced Dad. Here they are getting pumped up for the race. Orson obviously has total trust in Jared's Nascar skills.

Don't be fooled, Dad is NOT asleep. He has entered a complete Nascar mentality- he is one with the racecar. Such concentration- its almost haunting, isn't it?

I just thought this was a funny statue, so had them take a picture by it. My favorite part is the stranger sitting on the bench. If you enlarge the picture, he is smiling and looking at the camera, like a picture hitch hiker.

I just like this one because Orson is so good at the scared look, Jared looks handsome and Jan is a hottie.


Well, I was also going to do Christmas and New Years pictures as well, but I am sick so I think I am done for now. For a mental image, my nasty cough sounds like a combo of a 98 year old smoker and a cat coughing up a hairball. I have self diagnosed myself as having pneumonia, whooping cough or SARS. Either way, off to bed!

As a little teaser for next post, we spent New Years in Times Square. Tune in next time for the details.