It has only taken me a couple of hours to finally figure out how to put this here on the blog. I think I should get a gold star for that one.

I saw this on the Larimore's blog and I knew it was for me. I really needed to hear it. It seems like lately there's a lot of things that are keeping my attention away from where it should be. Thanks Christi for posting this.

My new Moto: "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved".





I need to blow these up all over the house just because they make me smile.

This is only a test

NO we did not get a dog. We did however have a dog for a night last week. Our good friends the Quiroz's had a problem at their house and called last sunday evening and needed "Honey" the dog out of the house immediately. They didn't expect her to be at our house so long, but by the time the crisis was over it was 10:00 p.m. The kids wanted to be able to say goodbye to Honey but since they were in bed like good little children, I asked Stephanie if Honey could please have a sleepover. She gratefully agreed and the kids were pleasently surprised the next morning when Honey and her kennel were still here.

What a great dog. She never barked not once. Even when we took her outside and the neighbors dog was barking. She perked up her ears, but not a peep. I think now we'll be on the dog sitting list for them whenever they go out of town.

Honey is usually quite a bit puffier. She is a Bichon Frise and is usually very cute....kind of like this...



But as you can see in the first picture, she didn't have that much hair. She had just recently been to the dog groomer and ended up being clipped a little too SHORT! She looks better in the picture than in person. She actually looked naked in person. Poor thing. Oh well, the kids loved her and had a lot of fun with her.

1 Day down....179 more to go

Yes, that special time of the year is here again. The first day of school. And yes, again, I managed to let Kyle head off to school without his first day picture. I'll get him eventually...ha ha ha. It just seems that trying to get Kyle out the door is such a rush...especially this year because we're carpooling with a friend. So only 1 trip to the Junior High School seems pretty nice.

It's always so good to get the 1st day butterflies behind them also. There were a few tears the 1st day for Kayla and Nathan. Today went much, much better. It's just getting past the 1st day with a new teacher and see who's going to be in your class. They both have great teachers this year and we're excited to see what this year brings for them. Kyle really likes his Social Studies teacher and his Math teacher (so far, there hasn't been any homework yet). Kyle loves being an 8th grader as well. Being the top dog at the school is fun. Wait until next year when he once again returns to the bottom of the food chain as a freshman in high school. I can't be that old yet, right?

Sweet Reunion

What a great day yesterday was for Kyle and his best friend Brent. This first picture is of the two of them at the end of 6th grade. They met in Kindergarten and instantly became great friends. They managed to be in the same class each year until their 5th & 6th grade years. Then at the end of 6th grade, Brent's family went through a divorce and over the summer of that year we thought that Brent had moved to Iowa.

Then last week, Kyle asked me if I could call Brent's older sister to see if he could have Brent's phone number. So I called and she returned my call and told us that Brent had not moved to Iowa, but in fact was living only about 15 to 20 minutes from us.

HAPPY DAY ! ! ! HAPPY DAY !!!!

So the two of them set off to texting each other for a straight two days at least. All I heard was beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep....you get the point. Just one text message after another comming into Kyle's phone. They were so excited to reconnect with each other. It was such a great feeling to see these two best friends just pick right up where things had left off.

Scouts....need I say more.....

Well kyle has had a busy summer with scouts. Right after school got out for the summer he went to Boys Camp up near Flagstaff. They had a wonderful time and got to do lots of fun things and yes....even finish up a merit badge or two or three !!! YIPEEE. That was a five day camp. Then last weekend the boys headed off again to Blue Ridge Reservoir. It looks like a beautiful place. Let's face it though....anywhere right now that's under 90 degrees is beautiful. Although I think you can see in the pictures that it is a pretty place.

The boys were working on their canoeing merit badge. Kyle already had his, so he was able to help demonstrate many things. I think the boys stayed in the water for the best part of the 2 days they were there.

I forgot to mention that when the boys got to Blue Ridge Reservoir they then had to take their camping stuff by canoe a couple of miles up the river to where they were going to camp for 2 days. So we had to try to make things they were taking as waterproof as possible. I just knew that there were going to be wet sleeping bags and food and clothes, but to my happy suprise none of the boys tipped their canoes over. Not a single one. They had 8 canoes with two people in each canoe. That's really good.

I really do appreciate these leaders who take these crazy boys out to do these things with them. I'm grateful that I don't have to go as a mother and witness the things they do. Some things are just better not seen.









Notice all the boys hovering around like there's going to be something good to eat?



Yes those really are crawdads. YUCK !!!! Another reason I'm glad I don't have to go on these adventures. Kyle thought they were wonderful though. He thought they tasted just like Lobster (that's funny.....he's never had lobster.)




Although as good as those Crawdads were, Kyle was especially grateful that Bro. C stopped in Payson on the way home and fed them all breakfast at Denny's. You would have thought that was the first meal kyle had eaten in 2 years, not just 2 days. He just kept telling us about Denny's and how good the breakfast was.....two huge pancakes, bacon, sausage and a huge plate of hash browns. We actaully heard more about Denny's than the campout at first.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?`

I ask myself this every summer....especially when it gets to 113 degrees of blasted heat. There is nothing you can do in this heat and survive unless you're wet from head to toe. I also find it quite funny that on the days we can't make it to the swimming pool, that the "baby" pool in the backyard is a whole lot of fun. Thank heavens for the fort and the slide. Kayla and Nathan love going up and down the slide every which way possible.

There's also the slip and slide and yes.....that's soap bubbles on the slip and slide. It works better with a little help from the kitchen soap. It makes it all the more slippery and fun to slide on.






Nathan is a creative thinker and likes to wrap the garden hose around the top of the fort to create a water slide. They have more fun.

Happy 4th of July

We love the 4th of July and especially since we get to go to the White Mountains and spend time with my sister and her family. Every summer growing up our family camped in the White Mountains when my dad had vacation time. My grandparents stayed there all summer and we would go and camp with them and have a wonderful time. Lots and lots of great memories with Grandma and Grandpa teaching us how to fish and clean the fish as well.

Now, however, that times have changed it's time for us to start new traditions with our own families. It has been so much fun the past 3 years to go and spend a long weekend with my sisters family in the mountains. Sometimes it rains and sometimes we luck out. This year we really lucked out. It didn't rain on us not once. We had perfect weather. The first day we went to a place called Bog Tank. It was great. We got there towards late afternoon or early evening. We got out all our stuff and threw in the lines. We started catching fish just one right after another. Of course with 17 people in our group it wasn't hard to keep the fish comming in. Everyone had so much fun. The first picture of Kayla however, if you couldn't tell by her facial expression, is her dissatisfaction of not having caught a fish yet. She was being very patient but thought that her turn should be next. Thank heaven for small blessings and her turn did come soon enough.

All in all at the end of the evening between 17 people, we had caught over 46 fish. 46 is what we actually kept on the stringers, but there were still many more that were returned to the lake. You may be asking yourself....who cleaned all those fish. Well Kyle cleaned his "one" that was required to complete his fishing merit badge for scouts and then I along with my brother-in-law and his son-in-laws cleaned the rest. It made for a fun evening at the cabin.

Kayla much happier after having caught her first fish


Kyle learning from Uncle Steve how to remove a hook from a fish who has swallowed it. Not a pretty scene.



Nathan down at the river where we used to camp when I was little. For some reason he thought he could only fish from the middle of the stream. Somehow it just works better if your feet are wet and cold. It also helps a lot if you just fall completely in, but thankfully we managed to avoid that.



Kayla being patient once again on the 2nd return to the lake. The ice chest made a perfect little seat for her to wait patiently upon.


Then of course I had to have some of my own fun that wasn't fishing. Thanks to my neices and their hubbies for letting me take pictures. Some of my new favorites.

Then our course there's the group shot....what a gang!!

The ants go marching 1 by 1........

Well, okay, I'll give it to you that they go marching 1 by 1, but they march by the hundrends at a time. I woke up this morning to ants in our master bathroom. They were everywhere. In the tub, on the wall, in the sinks, on the counter, by the shower,and up the cabinets....I mean everywhere. So I spent probably an hour killing and cleaning and trying to figure out where they were coming from. I thought I had done a pretty good job of it too. So by 10:00 I had figured I had desimated them enough that they weren't returning. Well the joke was on me. This afternoon I took the kidos swimming at our local pool. When I got back home I went to put my clothes back on that were laying on top of my bed. I started getting dressed and things started stinging me. Yep....ants. All over my clothes, my bed, up the wall, on my dresser, yes and even in my dresser....all three drawers. AUGHHHHH!!!!!!! I HATE ANTS. So my bedroom is completely torn aparts from end to end. I hope Robert and I can get all the little beast tonight and be able to sleep in our bed.....that is without being eaten alive tonight.

Added Post:
9:30 p.m. The little buggers are now in our closet as well. Just when we had the room put back together I went to move something in the laundry basket in the closet and guess what....MORE ANTS. Those little things are completely through the laundry basket and in every nook and corner of the closet. I don't believe it. There will be no peace tonight at our house. I'm afraid that they've crossed the battle lines. This means WAR!

Hey Good Lookin'

Well yesterday was finally the big day of the dance recital for Kayla. She has been so excited for it to arrive. She loves getting all fixed up in her outfit and dancing around in it. It is even more adorable in person. And lucky for us....now she has her Halloween Costume for this year. What a bonus.

The song they danced to was "Hey Good Lookin', What you got cookin'? Even though I've probably watched it at least a hundred times at practice, I never get tired of watching her perform. However, on the same note, I don't think I'm cut out to be one of those moms that have their daughter in dance all week for two or three hours a day. There were some in Kayla's group who spend every moment at dance and had multiple dances they were in, and multiple costumes. I can't get over the expense of it first off and then all the glitz and glam they do to the kids. I dropped Kayla off backstage and they put on lipstick and glitter all over her hair and face. She glistened everywhere she went for the rest of the day. That spray on sparkle stuff was everywhere. My brother just kept laughing at the fact that everwhere Kayla went a cloud of sparkle dust followed her. I think even after a good scrub job last night in the shower that there's still a little in her hair today.

Never the less, we are so proud of our little girl. You did a wonderful job Kayla and we all had so much fun watching you.

And the name is.......

Well.....I spoke to Granny yesterday and she said that Ben's grandson came to visit and they tossed around some names. One of the names was "Hugs". I had actually told Granny last Wednesday at Justin's graduation in Tucson that Ben should name the little horse Hugs so the two of them could be "Hugs & Kisses". I thought that was cute. So when Granny told me that it's one of the names under consideration, I had to laugh. I think it's cute. We'll see if it sticks or not. But for now, we're going to call them both Hugs & Kisses.

A horse with no name

Yes, that's right....a horse with no name. This weekend we went and spent some time with Granny while Robert was working out of town. Granny's neighbor, Ben, has these minature horses. The white one is named Kisses. Well Kisses had a baby last Saturday and so we were able to see it while we were there. He is such a cutie. He doesn't have a name yet. Ben is waiting for his grandson to come visit next week from New York. He told him that when he got here he could name the new baby. We're all anxious to hear what its name is going to be. He sure was fun to be with and get to pet. As you can see in some of the pictures the size of the minature horse and then the baby. He was so tiny. So much fun. The mama horse was really good with all of us in the pen with her. She just wanted to be petted and the baby stayed right by it's mom. What a fun experience for the kids. They loved every minute they spent with him.









This is Ben the owner of the horses. He's really nice to let us all have so much fun with his horses. Kayla was quite shy of the horses until we'd been in the pen for a while, and then she relaxed a little.

Dance Recital

Kayla has been taking a Dance class since January and she finally has her recital comming up in June. She is so excited, especially now that she has her costume. She puts it on at least once a day and dances around in it. She loves it and the class as a whole is so cute when they've all got on their outfits. Just a few more weeks and they'll all be ready for the big day.

Weekend Visitor

Say hello to Earl. This is our weekend visitor from Nathan's 4th grade classroom. Nathan was lucky enough to be able to bring him home for the weekend. We sure have had a good time with him. We have the kids go in our bathroom and block him in. Then he can hop around and everyone can get lots of petting time in. We sure will miss him when he has to go back to class on Monday.







Kayla keeps a blanket on her lap to keep Earl from scratching her legs. He has really long and sharp nails.

Hip Hip HOORAY !!!!

Okay,it's only been 10 days since the pinewood derby, but I knew I'd get around to it eventually.

Yes, I will say it loud, I will say it proud. I will also shout it from the rooftop. This was our last CUB SCOUT PINEWOOD DERBY. Six years in the making between Kyle and Nathan. We have enjoyed them all, but glad to see them go at the same time.

Nathan did a great job this year. We actually ended up combining with the other ward in our building. There were so many boys and it was a lot of fun. Nathan ended up doing really well. He finished 4th overall and came in 3rd in just our ward.






This was Nathan's first race of the evening. He was so excited to have won his first race. He had a great time.



It's also been so nice that our wards have taken away the competition of the whole thing. They don't award prizes or trophies for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Everyone who participates gets an award. The boys just love it. That's what it's all about anyway. Making fun memories with your friends.