Moved out

We're all moved out and living at Alicia's parents' condo which was only abou 7 doors down from the one we just sold. Everything went smoothly with the selling of our house. We put most of our stuff in a POD and then some things in the in-laws' garage. Alicia's parents have a house up in Lakeside-Pinetop area and stay up there most of the summer, so we pretty much have the place to ourselves. We are very thankful for their generosity in letting us stay here for a while.

Offer on house!

Well, we got an offer on our house last week, which we counter-offered and they accepted! So, as long as there are no hitches in the inspection and the loan process, we should be out of our townhouse by May 15th.

This last weekend Alicia and I looked at a couple of houses, both in the Awatukee area, which is south of South Mountain in Phoenix. One of the houses was almost 2300 sq feet and had everything re-done inside and out. The floor plan is split, which we like, and they even have a new Trane AC unit. We are both very sensitive to AC issues because we struggled with our AC and finally just replaced the unit even though we were moving.

We'll see what happens...I want to take my time because the housing market is slowing, but there is also talk of the interest rates rising, so maybe now is the best time. We will be moving our stuff out into PODS, which are portable containers which they deliver to your house and store for as long as you need and then re-deliver them. In the meanwhile, we will be living at Alicia's parent's townhouse, which is only a few doors down from our current place. Pretty convenient, eh? :)

Dallas

Last week (Mar 19-23) Alicia and I were in Dallas to visit some friends for the weekend...Katie and Greg. We had a great time with them in their new house in Frisco, TX! Greg and I had the chance to play some golf and Greg even bought a new Cobra driver that he broke in.

Ski Sunrise Park Resort

Last weekend, Alicia and I went up to Pinetop to visit her parents and go skiing at Sunrise Resort, which is located nearby in the Arizona White Mountains.

Some of our friends were up there for the weekend as well, so we met them at the mountain and skied with them. The day was sunny and warm. I was frequently taking off my hat and gloves and unzipping my jacket to cool off. It felt like spring skiing. The good thing about the warmth is that it softened the packed snow so it was nice for snowboarding.

Alicia rented her ski equipment from a local rental spot and her boots were killing her shins and calves all day. That's one big reason why I switched to snowboarding. The snowboard boots are so much more comfortable than ski boots, so it was an easy switch.

Later that evening we went over to our friends' house and played poker and a game called "Catch Phrase". The game is mostly luck, but it was fun because we played men against women and even though the women kicked our butts, it was fun to see how we describe things and become competitive. I think all of us guys want a rematch! :)

FBR Open 2007

On Saturday, Jimmy and I went to the FBR Open, which is a PGA golf tournament held in Scottsdale, Arizona. Jimmy's good friend's son-in-law got us tickets for free, so that made it even better.

The weather was beautiful! I would say it was in the mid-70's and sunny skies. The first thing we did was go to the famous hole #16....the loudest hole in golf. It is a par 3 that is surrounded by grandstands. We were to the left of the tee box (if facing the hole) and midway between the tee box and the hole. The seats closer to the tee box, and those closer to the hole were taken because that's where all of the action is. The crowd would cheer if the golfer hit the ball onto the green, but was booed if otherwise. No golfer was too good to be booed...even Vijay Singh was booed when his ball hit the left edge of the green and rolled off. We stayed there to watch some of the famous golfers we knew, such as Vijay, Fred Funk, Mike Weir.

We spent most of the day near the green for hole #14. The hole is far enough from the entrance where it is actually quite peaceful and it is a strategic location because there is a hill where you can sit and watch putting on hole #14 and then walk a few paces to see the smashing drives on hole #15. On the top of the hill is a concession stand and the other side of the hill is the tee box for hole #14 and the green for #13. The highlight for me was seeing Bubba Watson hit a monster drive on #15 that faded to the left (he's left handed) and rolled into the lake. There were only two birdies on #14 the whole time we were sitting there. That was very disappointing.

On the way back to the car we had to dodge drunks and fight crowds, but we made it safely back to lot #8. We were lucky we had a parking pass to a lot that we could walk to because the lines for the shuttles for public parking were horrendous. One of the guys said that last year they waited an hour and a half just to get on the bus! The public parking is about 3 or 4 miles away though, so pick your poison.