Ashlyn's Birthday

Ashlyn had a pool party for her 11th birthday. She invited alot of girls from school and they were all so sweet!

It is hard to believe she is 11 now and will be in 6th grade soon. Time goes by so quickly, I am missing my baby Ashlyn! She is still sweet and amazing and hopefully the teen years won't change that :)

This is Devon with Sarg. He is such a good dog! He used to be Julie and Abe's dog then my brother Mike adopted him and his brother. They now live happily and lazily with Mike and Liz in Arizona - so we can visit.

This is Brandon and his friend Colton and their Kindergarten teacher (and another classmate) on Dr. Suess's Birthday . I thought the boys would make a perfect Thing 1 and Thing 2 !

Unfortunately minutes after school started I was asked to wash their hair because it was just too radical for our school. I was bummed but I guess that is how it goes when you are attending a very conservative school. I like the education but the rules are a bit much for me!!!!

I have to wonder what a free thinking person like Dr. Suess would have thought?

Christmas so far........

We had a nice visit with my nephew James and his family. They drove out from Kansas!

We thought it would be fun to take some pictures after we decorated the tree. Baby Anna is adorable and sooo sweet...we were happy to help her celebrate her first Christmas!

Halloween Time

Roxy was introduced to Halloween this year by dressing up as a Pirate Wench! She actually really didn't mind the costume.

We found a Pumpkin Patch in Arizona! It is a farm that has all kinds of activities including carnival type rides and a corn maze. We had a lot of fun and it was even a bit cool this day (rare) so it felt kinda like Fall.

This is a look at some of the candy loot the kids collected trick or treating. A friend in the neighborhood drove the kids around in this flatbed all decked out for Halloween. They loved it!

The kids love dressing up for halloween. Here they are dressed up as a vampire(Ashlyn), Mario(Devon), and an Astronaut (Brandon...do astronauts wear flip flops? in Arizona they do!) and oh ya thats me as a ...a...farm girl(?)

This is my Bunco group on our annual Halloween Bunco night. I know I look ridiculous...I was supposed to! We had alot of laughs and alot of "red punch". I look forward to this party again next year.

It's Coming!!

Family Photos

These photos were taken by a friend of mine, DK Brittain. She is training to be a photographer so we posed for her at a nearby neighborhood waterfall. I think they turned out very nice. But as I told her, it is like herding cats getting everyone to pose right at the same time.

Black Widow!

Brian found this Black Widow in the garage the other day!!!

I guess it is to be expected here in the desert, but this is the first one we have seen.

He killed it right after this photo was taken.

I guess it could have been worse.....it could have been a scorpion.

Sad News

A very sweet 8 year old boy named Truman that is in Devon's class and in his Cub Scouts has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. It is so shockingly sad. He had emergency surgery to remove the ruptured tumor and some organ parts were removed as well. Our school has really stepped up and rallied the students to help out in any way they can. It is a good lesson for them to learn compassion and service. Devon had an opportunity to do something nice with him and a couple of other boys from scouts and I think it made him feel like he could some how help his new friend. Truman was going to start his chemotherapy so the boys went to his house and they all had their hair shaved off together. It ended up being fun for them and spirits seemed high. I am hoping for the best for this sweet boy and his family. He is the one in the front with the big smile!

My 20th High School Reunion

I went to my High School Reunion and really had alot of fun.It was interesting to see how people still seemed basically the same, I even noticed that about myself. I don't mean how we looked, although we all seemed to recognize eachother easily, but I mean our personalities. I suspect it may just have been being back in the familiar scene that takes us back to who we were as teenagers.

Here are then and now photos.

This is our Graduation picture in 1988!!!

Jen, Rachel, Marsha, Me and Sonya.

This is Heidi, Marsha, Sonya, Me and Jen at the reunion. Rachel was not able to make it or it would have been an exact 20 years later........ photo.

It is so nice to still have my girlfriends in my life, they mean so much to me and everytime we see eachother it feels like no time has passed at all. I always count them as one of my treasures in life.

Summer Visitors

Our cousin Derek came out from California to visit for 2 weeks. The kids enjoyed having another friend to play with. We hit the water parks a few times but they mostly just lived in the back yard pool or played video games. I joked one day that I think I could totally handle 4 kids...and the next day everyone showed me how wrong I was! So...I am sticking with 3.

While Derek was visitng we went to Rawhide western town to have some fun. The truth is, since we moved here I haven't found too many places to take visitors so we take everyone here!!! Brian is always saying that I don't need to be a tour guide but I figure if someone is visiting from another state I should show them what we have to offer. This was much easier to do in San Francisco.

I was so happy to have Julie come and visit! She brought her friend Vickie and their kids for a fun road trip to Arizona in July which is very brave. We had lots of fun. I think Brian was a bit overwhelmed having 9 kids in the house though.

There are 6 kids in this picture but 3 are missing...that makes a total of 9 kids playing here at our house for 4 days! It was lots of fun.

Ashlyn, Devon and Brandon loved helping to take care of Aunt Julie's twins, it was so cute to see them feed them their bottles.

Julie, Maddy and Evie

Anyone who knows Julie and I know it won't be a visit without a bit of lively "discussions"!

But we always manage to live through it and keep the LOVE.

Ashlyn's friend Kaylie from Fairfield came for a visit. I think it was a bit too HOT for her and her Mom but we loved seeing them. When we took them to the airport to fly back to San Francisco we wished we could get on the plane with them. We both still miss alot of what we left when we moved.

FINALLY, I CAN READ THE FOURTH BOOK IN THE TWILIGHT SERIES - BREAKING DAWN!

I am very excited to read the fourth book in the Twilight Series! Breaking Dawn will be released this Friday. I found Twilight last August while I was searching for a good book for my book club and I became very engrossed and had to read all 3 books that week! Anyone who knows me has been introduced to Twilight and I do this partly because I want to share the adventure with my friends and partly just to see how many people will love it like I do. So far everyone has agreed with me (for the most part). I can't wait to discuss the book with everyone. Actually, I am mostly looking forward to the unique escape reading the books offers me, I haven't experienced anything like it in quite awhile.

First Day Of School

The kids start school in July here! It seems crazy but they actually are ready to go.

This will be the first time all of them are in school and I will be without them most of the day. I am excited and sad and nervous.Ashlyn is in 5th, Devon is in 3rd and Brandon is just starting Kindergarten. It is hard for me to believe but......

THEY AREN'T BABIES ANYMORE.

Of course they will always be to me.

Ashlyn, Devon and Brandon dressed and ready to start a new year.

Brandon is so excited to start Kindergarten! He got up at 6a.m. and was dressed and ready to go. The gang walking to school .

Brandon and his buddy Colton, that lives next door, are in the same class and they are having fun walking to school together.

The kids were happy to have have Daddy walking with them to carry their stuff. He will walk with them every Monday. I guess I will carry it the other days :).

Guitar Hero

I gave Brian The Guitar Hero game for his birthday and it has become a household favorite. I did not realize how addicted the kids would get to this game and I especially didn't see them liking the music so much. I have mixed feelings about them listening to some of it, Devon especially likes it and seeing him "bang his head" is funny and disturbing at the same time! He is getting very good and wants to play the "real" guitar now. He has been trying to help Brandon learn and he was so sweet about it I thought I'd take a picture.

Summer Fun in California

Devon helping Brandon ease into the ocean.

It didn't take long before they both remembered

how much fun it is to swim at the beach!

Devon found lots of crabs at the beach. He loved playing with them but then he dug a hole near the shore and let them go.

The kids enjoying a ride on our cousins boat.

While in L.A. we went to The Getty with Grandpa Marty. Everyone is showing off the craft they made to resemble the sculptures on exhibit in the gardens.

We had a fun sleepover at Grandma Claire's in L.A.

We went on a beach camping trip in California with family. The favorite part of camping is always s'mores by the campfire.

Brandon loves going to bed when we are camping, somehow it is just more fun.

Devon trying out boogie boarding.

Ashlyn and Daddy relaxing on Del Mar Beach, California





On the way home Brian lead the kids on a climbing adventure in Joshua Tree National Monument. Brian and I spent alot of time here when we first married since we lived in 29 Palms. The only downside was that it was about 110 degrees and as soon as we got back to the car we found out that the air conditioner was not working! We had a very long trip back home to Arizona!

The most exciting thing that has happened since we moved to Arizona....The Pool!

This is how the kids cooled off when we first moved to Arizona!

While the kids were waiting for the pool to be fininshed they had fun being hosed down by Daddy in the hole that would soon be the pool.

And then at last the fun (and relief from the heat) begins!