Who's That Cowgirl?

My sweet Mother flew into town this weekend. She wanted to surprise the kids, so... Darren picked her up @ the airport, and they headed to Rawhide. I told the kids we were going there to visit Santa & see the lights, so they were completely excited. The workers @ one of the cafes there wanted to be in on the surprise, too. They handed her an apron & hat, and she posed as a waitress at the counter. The kids didn't quite know what to think--they kept saying, "She looks familiar..."
It was Grandma Kathie! They are so thrilled to have her here for the week.
Santa much prefers the Arizona winters... he's hanging out at Rawhide {in case you were wondering}. This year Courtney wants a dollhouse and a kitten from the Disney Store.
Two years ago on Christmas Eve, we realized the kids hadn't seen Santa yet. We headed to see him that night, where Alexander totally changed his mind about what he wanted from Santa. We tried to explain that Santa's sleigh was probably already loaded, but he was confident Santa would fulfill his wish. Poor kid. Santa already had the toys waiting at home. This year Darren insisted {wise man} to get the visit to Santa with over early to avoid last minute disappointment:) This year Alexander narrowed down his list to a DS.

Doom Town @ Rawhide

We went to Rawhide {an old western theme town Darren was the engineer for} on Halloween night. As we entered the gate, out of the shadows came galloping a Headless Horseman!
The town was decked out in some super creepy decorations. The Undertaker would follow people around with his measuring stick. The kids were pretty freaked out!
Nobody messes with the Jedi. Lightsabers totally deflect bullets.
Our darling Trick-or-Treaters!
We also went to a show at the Six Gun Theatre. Pretty cheesy, although they tried to make it exciting with some pyrotechnics:)

Rawhide

The Rawhide Western Theme Town Park was my first construction project here in the great state of Arizona. (shout out to Mr. Dunn my fellow Rawhide project veteran!!) Below is a slide show of the original Rawhide that was tore down in Scottsdale, the new one built at Wild Horse Pass along with some pictures of our favorite little cowboy and cowgirl, Xander and Courtney.