Day 69

Christmas day, live from beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona. We arrived here Friday night. I expected the airport to be mess, on top of the fact that travelling with Casey is always a possible problem. When traveling with Casey, she has to be drugged and put in a small bag under the seat in front of us. All airlines charge $165 for dogs to fly round trip, but there is an easy way to usurp the process. My friend Pav told me a couple of years ago that you never should pay. You get your boarding passes at either sky cap or one of the automatic machines and never let the agents see the dog. Then when you get to the security agent checking the boarding passes, you make sure the dog is zipped in the bag so they have no idea there is even a dog with you. Once you get passed that person, you are gold.

Anyways we got out unscathed, except for the fact that we flew Ted are there is literally about 5 inches of space between seats. As always, I take one for the team and sit in the middle so Leah can sleep by the window. You would think with the lack of space, the jack-asses wouldn't recline their seats, but of course the guy in front of me did. Nothing like 3 and a half hours of middle seat action! We got back to the house and had a great spaghetti and meatballs dinner, we are always fed unbelievably well by my mother in law. Tuned in to watch my Cavs almost blow a 20 point at home to the Pacers (We have serious problems with our half court offense, the other 4 players stand around and wait for Lebron to do something, and we chuck way too many threes, but that is another story for another day). There is a full house here, Jessica & Justin are here through tomorrow, Scott lives at home still, plus my inlaws so we are packed to the gills for a couple more days.

The weather could not be more beautiful. It is unseasonably warm here - its usually in the low to mid 60's during the day and cool at night. Yesterday reached 78 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It does wonders for your mental health waking up to bright sunny skies and the quiet of the mountains surrounding you. We had a little 6 way putt putt tournament yesterday (Leah and I took them all down!) and afterwards I called for the late lunch at Chik-Fil-A. I buried both a chik no pick and an 8 piece nugget with the waffle fries dipped in Polynesian sauce. As always when eating chik-fil-a, I couldn't be happier. I luckily didn't waste any time busting my ass to go watch the Browns get disgraced at home by the Steelers 41-0. Its way too nice here to be spending my days inside. Last night we had prime rib and latkas. Another great meal.

This week I have lots relaxation planned. I am going to recharge for the new year. January 1 I start working out again and I am going on a diet. That is my new years resolution - I am going to get down to my ideal weight and in some sort of decent shape before our 11 weddings begin at the beginning of April. The beard sticks through the winter though. When I can, I will post a picture of it. It's looking real tough now. I am ready to bury people! hahahahahaha.

Song of the Day: "Margarettaville" by Jimmy Buffett. I heard this song yesterday in the car. As a kid, dad used to play this song all the time and Matt and I hated it. I always begged to have him change it. Dont know why. But I like it now and as the case with a million other things, it reminds me of him and better days when he was healthy and happy.