Extreme Makeover...The Home Edition!

Finally the dust has settled, but it was all worth it! We had granite countertops, new sinks and faucets installed this week in the kitchen and both bathrooms! It's beautiful! The granite slab has so much fire! It really gives a much warmer feel to the rooms...

The sinks were chosen solely for the comfort of the cats! They're the perfect size to curl up in! But, they're NOT spoiled, really!!

We're going to re-do the tub and shower in the master bath with tile as the next project and I'm going to install stacked stone under the counter by the barstools and over the "phone desk" in the kitchen. Hey, I took the free "Tile installation for Women" class at Home Depot and I'm ready to re-tile the whole house... Look Out! :)

Legacy Ranch, Heber, AZ

This is the 21,000 s.f. Legacy Ranch by Black Canyon Lake with it's man-made lake between the 'house' and the barn!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Cabin...

We just got back from spending a LAZY couple days at the cabin! Actually, I'm not usually that lazy, it's just that it rained most of the time so my options for hiking with Squirt were limited! We did manage to get out every time the rain let up, tho! Saturday afternoon we even had huge hail come pelting down!

We drove over to Legacy Ranch by Black Canyon Lake. This ranch sits on acres and acres, anchored by a 'tiny little' 21,000 s.f. log home! Next to that is a man-made lake leading to this beautiful red and white barn! Usually there are llamas in the pasture, but this weekend, even the llamas weren't out! Apparently, it's owned by the people that own the "In-Flight" magazine that you see on planes! Hummmm, just think about that the next time something in their catalog seems a bit pricey! You're actually helping to finance this massive ranch!

The nights were cool and Joe built a couple blazing fires in the fireplace! We tossed in some of the pine cones that Mom gave us that makes the fire dance in bright blue and purple colors! And I had a chance to catch up on some of the reading that I never seem to have time to do!

A great weekend, but way too short!

Culver's... YUM!!

I finally got a day off, so Mom and I headed over to one of our favorite places...Culver's!! Mom just tells the girl at the counter that she wants anything (or maybe she said "everything") they have that's chocolate! She settled on a Chocolate-Caramel Sundae with Whipped Cream and a Cherry...DOUBLE-SCOOP! She's really hard core!

I got their "Flavor of the Day"... Raspberry Cobbler! It was awesome!

Did I mention that she all but licked the cup clean when she was finished??!!

My Dog Has a Blog...

Okay, this has only been up and running for about 2 days now and I decided "The Del'Ve Family Blog" just sounded a little too boring! Not that we're a boring bunch or anything, but "Rodent Dog Blog" just has a better ring to it! I named the blog after Squirt...

If you don't happen to know how he got the nickname of 'Rodent Dog', it happened at Agility class one night. Barb, my girlfriend and the instructor, looked over into the tall grass where Squirt was laying and all you could see were his nose and those giant ears coming up out of the grass. She told me he looked like a 'Giant Rodent'! The name just kind of stuck...

Personally, I think giant rodents are kind of cute! And really, sometimes Squirt's life is a lot more exciting than mine! So now... My dog has a blog! But, he'll share it with the rest of the family so we can all keep in touch! What do you think??

Now all I have to do is figure out why the aspect ratio of the slideshow got out of whack! It was fine yesterday when I set it up!! Cyberspace seems to work in strange ways!!

Mother's Day at Schnepf Farms...

Okay... I thought it was about time to start a personal blog so that everyone scattered all over the country can check in to see what's going on here in sunny Phoenix! (Actually, very sunny today...about 102 degrees sunny!!) And...If I've set it up right, everyone in the family can also add their own posts, pictures and videos so it will be easier to keep up with what everyone else is up to!

For Mother's Day today, Mom and I went out to Schnepf Farms and picked fresh peaches right off the tree! What a blast! Mom found the best trees that were just LOADED with peaches after she walked down the "railroad tracks" a ways!! (Okay, so they were 'kiddie train tracks', but you get the idea!)

After that we went to the "Down on the Farm" restaurant right there on the grounds of Schnepf Farms for a late breakfast where I had the opportunity to practice my waitressing skills! I guess one of the cooks didn't up and they were more than a little backed up, so we ate on very high-end styrofoam carry-out containers on our own private patio...as long as I served the coffee and food and was able to scrounge around to find silverware! Ha...never let it be said I don't do things 'First Class'!! Hey, at least I didn't have to cook the food too!

We took home some AWESOME Peach Cinnamon Rolls and a Fresh Peach Pie that we used in place of dinner to celebrate the day! Everyone chipped in for Mom's trip to Indianapolis, which we're trying to get scheduled for this summer!