It's good to visit! ... and laugh!

Family…

This week my company sent me and Matt Owen (co-worker) out to Phoenix. And since I was going to be in Phoenix for a couple of days I decided to hook-up with my Uncle Walter (my Dad’s Dad’s youngest brother) and Aunt Donna. Monday I called Aunt Donna to let her know that I was in town and wanted to get dinner with them. After the initial shock (she thought I was calling to let her know someone had died) we decided to meet in town at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants, Julio G’s. I invited my co-worker Matt Owen to tag along as well Aunt Donna invited our cousins Tom Risch and his wife and daughter.

















Here is a picture of Uncle Walter (he sure reminds me of my Grandpa minus the white hair) and Aunt Donna.
















Here is a picture of our cousin's Tom Risch, his wife and daughter.

The last time I was able to visit Uncle Walter and Aunt Donna was when I was 19 years old about fourteen years ago when my Dad and I drove down my Grandparents stuff to Scottsdale. Needless to say we had much to talk about. We reminisced on things in the past and updated them on the whereabouts of all the family.

BTW, Dad if you are reading this Uncle Walter has officially invited you to visit him ANYTIME. He said this is an open invitation that will not expire.

On a lighter side…

Before we ate dinner with my family Matt Owen and I were driving around Phoenix ‘surveying’ the land enjoying the beauty of the mountains and hills. We happened upon this little hill (or mountain as Matt may tell you) and Matt said in passing “I bet you I could climb that mountain in less than ten minutes”. I laughed and said “there was no way.” Of course being the competitive people that Matt and I are we decided to make a bet. But because we couldn’t agree on the type of bet, we decided to just do it for sheer bragging rights.

So after we figured out the details of the ‘so-called bet’ we pulled the vehicle to the side of the road and I pulled out my handy-dandy camera phone (Treo 700w incase you interested) to record this momentous occasion. Matt crossed the busy street and got ready for this race of his life. Matt, the whole way kept insisting that he could climb/run to the top of this hill in less than ten minutes. I of course disagreed hardly and wanted so desperately to prove him wrong.

Ready, Set, Go! I gave Matt the thumbs-up and ‘boy’ did he run. I wish the video I had was clearer because seeing Matt run up this hill and I mean run was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. All you could see was Matt zigzagging left and right to obviously trying avoid rocks (to sike Matt out a little I told him to watch out for rattle snakes). His arms where moving so fast, I could tell he was running with all his might. Matt running up that hill kind of reminded me of the intro to an old T.V. show ‘Six-Million Dollar Man’ in the way he was running. Nevertheless, by the time he got to the top of the hill I had laughed so hard my side heart so badly. I know that no amount of words could describe the humor of this day but I had to try and pen this historic moment.

BTW, Matt made it to the top of the hill in less than three minutes. I lost to ‘so-called bet’ and I didn’t care because this truly was so incredibly funny that I would have paid money to see him run up the hill.

Click here to see the video. Note that this was taken from my camera phone and you cannot see Matt running up this hill. Nonetheless I still think it’s worth viewing.