Only 20 more to go!

After fourteen months of eating less and exercising more, I stepped on the scales Sunday morning to the happy realization I had lost 100 pounds since August 2007!  I had to step back on two more times just to make sure.  A great weight (literally) has been lifted off my shoulders (and belly and arms and legs and other parts of my body).

We celebrated after family dinner with a sugar free jello treat and a great card with nice thoughts from all the family members who were present in Arizona.

Just 20 more pounds to reach my goal!

Iris Olivia!

The big excitement in Mesa during September was the birth of Iris Olivia Dixon, our seventh grandchild, born on September 23rd to Rachel and David. What a wonderful little girl! We are so grateful for the sealing power that binds us all together as an eternal family! 

Please accept my apology for the huge delay in posting this great news.

Clodhopper, circa 1971

I just scanned in a photo of Claudia from way back in the high school days!

She was beautiful then, too!

Colorful Summer Flowers

Mark likes to say that in Arizona, photosynthesis really works! Lots of sunshine with plenty of water really makes things grow. Here are some examples of the colorful flowers in our yard this year:

Snail vines will little purplish-pink flowers have completely covered this archway in our back yard.

Thanks for stopping by to see our garden!

Happy Birthday, Devlin!

Devlin turned a bit five years old yesterday! We celebrated his birthday with a party at the Dalton's on Sunday evening. What a wonderful, sweet boy he is!

For more birthday photos, click here.

Run, Holly, Run!

Holly ran her first cross-country race Wednesday for the Taylor Jr. High School team. On the two-mile course, she placed second on her team and fourth overall in the meet, helping Taylor win the meet! It is great to see her exercise the Dixon running genes!

Based on her performance at the Junior High meet, the Mesa High coach invited her to participate in the Chandler Cross Country invitational meeting on Saturday. Despite being sick the night before, Holly did a great job on the longer, 2.9 mile course, running further than she had ever run before and finishing 48th out of 120 9th-grade girls from all over the state of Arizona. We are really proud of what she is accomplishing.

You can see more photos of Holly's emerging cross country life in this Flickr photo set.

Go Holly!

A New VW Van?

This is for our kids who fondly or otherwise remember our VW Vanagon.

Maybe we should trade in the Sequoia for one of these little beauties:

Maybe we can get one in brown and tan. :)