Our trip to Tuscon for the shoot

When I started this blog I was having issues with my internet and putting pictures on here...so I gave up and ended up forgetting all about it. Here is an outdated blog...but not too old. This last Saturday Bill Papa Bill and Justice had a Cowboy Fast Draw Shoot in Tuscon so the boys and I decided that we were going to check out Tuscon too. I have never been there but I was a little nervous taking the two and a half hour trip with the boys by myself. They did pretty good though, better than I expected.

We first stopped in at the Reid Park Zoo. I didn't find out until we got back that I checked out the wrong place. Bill said there was a Desert place to check out and that morning when I was looking for the address, the only one I found was the zoo so I thought it was it. The zoo was free since we are members of the Phoenix Zoo, that was a bonus. The zoo was not that big but big enough for us to walk through and enjoy ourselves without getting overheated. It is still really hot down there as well. The zoo had polar bears, lamas, some type of pigs, albino peacocks and some other things that Ben and Matthew has never seen so it was neat. We had lunch there where they got these really cute bear head lunch pails. We then headed down to see Bill, Justice, Papa Bill and Uncle Charlie shoot. I really enjoyed driving through Tuscon, it actually is a little bit smaller than Phoenix but nicer some how. We finally found the range and Benjamin just loved watching them shoot and be apart of the boys group.

After we left there we drove to the San Xavier Mission in Nogales. I don't know what it is about old, sacred and religous buildings but they are just so peaceful to me. I really enjoyed the pictures I got to take and just feeling the peace being there. We then drove further south to a restaurant with a bulls skull. It is pretty neat looking, none of us were hungry though so we drove past University of Arizona (I think) and had dinner at Chuy's back in Tuscon. We have never been there, just wanted to check out a new restaurant. It was okay, they gave us a stuffed kitten or pig or something to hold onto for our number(to get our food). That is not a wise idea, we had to hide it so Benjamin didn't try to leave with it...he wouldn't even eat unless it was right by him.

All in all it was a really nice trip and always fun to check out new places to visit. I will definitely be back to find the right zoo and go back to the one since it was such a nice place to go.

Another visit to the Chlidren's Museum

We headed down to the Children's Museum again today with Kristen, Nathan and Julia. I just really love all the exciting things to do with the kids there. They can actually run around and get into all kinds of things and not get into trouble. The first picture is a little table that was full of sand, the kids had all kinds of things to play with in it. They can make all kinds of marks and designs with the different things. Then the last picture is of Ben cycling Julia and Matthew through the carwash. They just loved it so much, actually Nathan pushed them around but that is okay. They had a lot of other stuff as well but my camera died. Ben got to do some artwork as well while we were there. He used glue very well and didn't make a mess of himself or glue his fingers together, so that was neat. Benjamin just loves Julia and of course Kristen and Nathan. So to spend a day with her was just so much fun for him. They had a new toy there that the kids really liked. It had a pipe that went everywhere and then out the top. You place a fabric ball in one end and the pressure shoots it through the pipes and shoots it out the top. Matthew happened to stand right where the balls were shooting and just loved it. I tell you, to make a wonderful kids room, that is the place to go for ideas.
We had a nice lunch and really enjoyed having a day out, especially since it was free admission. Who can argue with that? I hope we get to go again another day and have more fun.

Science Center visit

This last Saturday we decided to visit the Arizona Science Center. I have mentioned the Culture Passes before, but we can get free passes to museums and stuff here in Phoenix through the Phoenix Library. We had a late start but were excited to get out of the house and do something for FREE. Well, we got there and there was a lot of cool stuff to see and do. There was rooms about building things, land, water, air, legos, space, and the body. I am sure I am missing some stuff, but there was a lot. The boys got to test their strength, feel different atmospheres, see how different storms are made, build stuff with all sizes of legos, fly a plane, look at different minerals, learn about radios and the computer age stuff. The kiddos had a good time I think and was pretty worn out. They learned a lot and so did we. We had a blast and wanted to share some pictures with everyone from there.
So these were from the Legoland floor. The knight above with the boys is make out of small little legos...it is unbelievable. The boys loved it there. They even had little outfits the kids could wear around. Matthew didn't like his so it didn't stay on too long.
This was a screen that you stood behind and the monitor would show the balls gathering up on whatever was behind it. It was pretty neat to see how it worked. However it did work?

This was a place where it blew air up in the air and the balls would float on it. The boys loved it.
This is a bunch of little cushions that you had to walk on, Matthew actually did the best on it. Then Ben below is my little Ben the Builder.

Shannon Went Home

It is so sad in the house because Shannon left yesterday to go back home. She came back with us from California on our vacation a couple of weeks ago. She was such a big help and the kids just loved her. Every morning they would wake up and give her lots of hugs and kisses. They would even sing the Good Morning song to her on occasion. It was really nice having some other type of estrogen in the house. She motivated me into running again and started the Twilight series together.

The hardest part was seeing her go. I don't know if it was all the fun I had shopping with a girl and trying to pick things out that were of fashion...I was really lost. Or was the dressing up and taking pictures. Or just having a girl to chat with or having someone who didn't mind sometimes me having her pose for pictures since she is just so beautiful. Either way I guess we had a lot of fun and I will miss that very much. Hopefully she won't stay a stranger for too long and will come visit us again. She is soon to be 18 and will be graduating high school as well, she is a senior this year. I just wanted you to know that I miss you very much girlie and can't wait to see you again. You keep up the good work and stay out of trouble. I love you very much!!

Benjamin's Haircut

Well this haircut has been way overdue!! It has driven everyone nuts including me. I was wanting him to grow it out and see how he looked with feathery hair. Tonight we were chatting about jelly bellies and I told Ben that he could have some after he got a haircut. He said okay, I asked a couple more times just in case he misheard me. He was happy and went and got a chair and sat in it. He does really good sitting there until the hair starts getting in his mouth, that is when he gets very impatient and wiggly. Bill did a great job though and it looks fantastic. It isn't his first haircut but it sure looks like it was. He looks great.

We are planning on Matthew's but he is having a hard time teething right now so I am waiting until he feels better. Well love you all and see you later.

Matthew's Check Up

Yesterday was Matthew's one year check up and it went really well. He is 23 pounds and 30 inches long now. He is repeating everything I say, well almost everything. The funny thing is he says things clear as day...I know exactly what he says. Some of the words are Anna, Grandma, Cracker, Shannon and I can't remember what else right now. It is just so cute though, my little recorder. She mentioned that I should take him off the bottle now, which shouldn't be a problem since he already drinks from a cup as well. He got a cut on his finger from when we went to Pinecrest...he was sticking his finger in a soda can and cut it. Anyways, it got infected and got me pretty scared. She put him on some antibiotics to just help it heal but told me not to stress over it.
Since he is already starting to chat so much and so clear she wants me to start talking to him about poop and pee and sitting him on the potty. Hey, I am all up for potty training early...the price of diapers is ridiculous. I am still trying to get the other completely potty trained so I think this is going to be fun ; ) I am up for it though, it will be a couple of weeks until I go back to school so I am not worried. He is beautiful though and very healthy. He can out eat his brother since Benjamin is going through a stage of not wanting to eat.
Benjamin is doing good too, he is just so funny sometimes. He is really starting to put words all together in long sentences and understanding the different tenses and stuff. He will say something and I just want to cry I am so proud of him learning so much on his own. Like I said, he doesn't want to eat ever, we are constantly playing games to get him to eat. I am actually letting him grow his hair out. Bill had longer hair when he was younger and I thought I would see if Ben's looks similar...we will see how long it lasts before it just drives me nuts.
Justice has been so hyper lately with a partner in crime...Shannon. I think he has really enjoyed someone to go play with and just relate to. They had been putting the boxing gloves on and boxing...it is just too funny to watch. He has a shoot this weekend that he is really excited about. At practice this week at Uncle Charlie's house he won, it was really exciting. He goes back to school soon, he seems really excited. He had his soon to be teacher in summer school so he is excited to see him again.
Shannon is doing good too...just enjoying the heat some how...she is crazy I think. Her tan is looking good so far and I hope she is enjoying herself. We had a good monsoon the other day, she is bummed that it rains now that she is wanting the sun. I told her she is good luck and has brought the rain with us...woohoo.
As for Bill, he is still trying to figure out what is going on at work with the new Captain coming along. His poor feet are still hurting pretty bad but he always moves on. Me, I am trying to decide what to do for school. Classes are getting a bit difficult and I would like to attend class now so I can get as much from class as I can. I need to sign up at Estrella Community College but just nervous. Classes will take a lot of time from my time at home and I haven't had to do that just yet...so a little worried. I can do it though I know I can.

Yahhhh WE ARE HOME!!!!

I am so excited to be home and back to normal....well it will take a few days but it is so nice to be here right now.

First of all we woke up really early yesterday morning to Pismo Beach and found lots of shells and Sand Dollars. The kids were thrilled and had a blast in the ocean. Benjamin actually was running through the waves and splashing. We also saw seals out in the water playing by the surfers. We then left the horrible hotel and was on our way to Oxnard to meet up with Brenda and her beautiful daughter Kristen. It was so nice to see Brenda and reminisce about the good ole days in the military. I was so excited to meet her little girl and see how smart and pretty she is. It was a short reunion but we had to be on our way for another trip to San Clemente. We ran into a lot of bad traffic along the 405 but we got there just in time to shower and head to Nick and Kelsey's reception. It took us a while to get there since we were lost but it was worth it. They both looked so happy and had the honeymoon look in their eyes. It was held at Kelsey's parent's house and it was beautiful. They had a pasta bar and chocolate fountain. I have to get one of those for my kitchen. I also enjoyed seeing her beautiful cake. I am so very happy for them and was thrilled to see Bill's uncle and aunt and the rest of the family. They are all so wonderful and we don't get to see them too often so it was nice. This morning we were off one more time home. We didn't hit any traffic that really stopped us so we made good time. We only really had one major meltdown with Matthew so we were lucky.

Now that we are home and sitting down a little, we are all about to pass out. It has been a rough couple of weeks but it was all worth it. I miss my family and friends already, I am happy to have Shannon here with us though. She is kind of my piece of Sonora here...I am going to be heart broken when she leaves. Love you all and hope you enjoyed our journey on our vacation with us. Here are some pictures of us all these last couple of days.

We are in Pismo, CA

We are now in Pismo Beach, CA, a half-way point between San Francisco and San Clemente. We were going to go to Port Hueneme and stay the night but it was quite a drive and we thought it would be fun for the kids to get sand dollars if they are there. Anyways, we started our morning going to Lombard Street. We actually got to go down it in the van...it was actually really exciting and really pretty. We then drove through China Town, which probably saved me from stopping and spending a lot of money. I saw a lot of great deals and really wanted Bill to jump out and grab something at every stop light but I resisted.
We are now at a beat up old motel that is pretty gross and broken down. I am very dissapointed and will never stay at another one. I have no pictures to post, I am so sorry but I really need to get some sleep because we have a very full day tomorrow. We will go to Port Hueneme to say hello to Brenda and then we are off to San Clemente for Nick's wedding. Nick is Bill's uncle's Mike's son. Does that make sense? Well, we are exhausted and really need to get some sleep so I will let you all go. I will try to get some pictures posted tomorrow for you all though. Goodnight.

Marine World Six Flags

Wow, what a day it was yesterday. As you can see, I passed out last night before I had a chance to write on our blog. We are up early and ready for another day though. We went to Marine World Six Flags yesterday with the kiddos and we just had a blast. We couldn't get Justice on any big rides but he did ride the Tony Hawk one which was a pretty good one. We rode other rides like Medusa, Kong, V something, Tony Hawk, Water Rapids(where I got soaked) and some others that Ben got to ride with Shannon and Justice. I took Matthew on the Thomas train that he loved as well.

We also got to see some shows of the Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions, and Tigers. During the Shouka the whale performance they were asking the audience questions and giving away stuff for it...Justice got picked and got a shirt and stuffed whale. He sat in the soak zone and got pretty wet. All the performances were just incredible and everyone loved it. They also got to meet some really nice characters like Tweety Bird, Sylvester and some others I can't think of. We are off to see Lombard Street and heading down to Pismo Beach. I hope you all are enjoying this blog and of course here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Loving San Francisco.

We have arrived in San Francisco and enjoying it too much. We have enjoyed ourselves so much that I will keep this one short so we can get some sleep before our big day at Marine World tomorrow. Today we got into town and stopped at the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. It was very cold and foggy, but it was still breathtaking. We hiked only halfway across the bridge and back and headed to the hotel. Our hotel is beautiful and is big. We then headed back downtown to Pier 39 to go on a bay cruise and see the Aquirium of the Bay. They both were phenomenal...pictures to prove it.

Placerville was a BLAST!!

Lets see where I left off. We took our journey to Placerville, CA to visit family. Placerville is where I was born and raised for a good portion of my life. We stopped in at the Round Table Pizza downtown and met up with my cousin Cassie and her boyfriend Mike and my great friends from well a long time...Stephanie and her son Jack and a friend I can't remember how I remember...Teresa and her beautiful daughter. I also got to see Keoki, Shelly and their son Kayden when they dropped off Michael. It was so nice. I even ran into my cousin Elizabeth who I went to church with when I was just a kid for years. So many memories just flood my head when I go to these places and reunite with my family and friends and it is just so heart-warming. I greatly enjoy all these memories and getting to see so many people. I have to say thank you to everyone for making it a point to come and see me, I know it is out of your way at times but I do appreciate it very much. Before we left home we stopped and got some pictures of Brent's and Grandma's graves. They are so loved and missed. Brent is my sister's Laura's kid that passed away when he was almost three months old. It was a tragic event for all of us and he will always be in our thoughts.

I got to spend the night with my sister Samantha and just had a great tri-tip dinner that Mike cooked and also got to meet his son Chris. What a beautiful house they have with so many animals. I saw goats, chickens, ducks, dogs and cats and more dogs and more cats. If you know Samantha...you know what I am talking about then. She is so wonderful though and I just love them all. So this morning we drove back to Sonora and got to visit with my brother Bobby, Sister-in-law Teresa, Cory and Shannon. They are growing up so fast and just so beautiful. Yes, even Cory is beautiful to me. We sit and reminisce about the good ole days and just laugh. We had such a good time and didn't want to leave. So now I am back at my sister's Valerie's house who I have greatly enjoyed visiting to spend one more night before we head back to Sam's house. We picked up a straggler on the way and Shannon will be coming home with us.

BBQ at Pinecrest

We all headed out early to Pinecrest, CA today to enjoy some wonderful weather and beautiful scenery. I was so excited to be with fresh air and with a whole lot of family and friends. It is just so wonderful to see family and friends that I havent seen in forever. My Aunt Dean and Uncle Doyle are here who I haven't seen in a couple of years, I haven't seen my Aunt Ola or Uncle Albert in who knows how long...I can't remember. I even got to see my cousin Julie and Jeramy and their...well tall kiddos Chase and Jillian.

I was so excited to go kayaking with Heather and got to finally meet her little girl McKenna and can't forget Josh her husband. They are some of the greatest people out there and I am so grateful that we have kept in touch for all these years. Later on Laura, Dustin and their clan also joined us. What cute kids we got to see and so many memories just flooded my mind from seeing everyone and being back in Sonora. It even sprinkled on us at the lake. Well i promised you all some photos so here they are...the first one to the left is Matthew chasing me...

Okay the next one is Heather, Josh and McKenna. The next one is Laura, Dustin and their kiddos. Then there is Julie, Jeramy, Chase and Jillian. Now the next is my beautiful mother, can you believe how pretty she is? Speaking of beautiful, next is Aunt Ola and Uncle Albert. Then there is Triston and CC. Finally there is Aunt Dean and Uncle Doyle. I had a blast and appreciated everyone coming out...thank you

We are in Sonora finally

Hello everyone, I wanted to update our blog whenever we got anywhere. Our trip started out well and we got to Las Vegas and had a killer time in there. We loved our room in the Luxor, but didn't care for the food buffet on Fremont Street. The kids had so much fun and we were able to meet up with Bill's cousins once again. They are such nice people and we just wished we could spend more time with them. We were then off to Sonora for our long trip...about eight hours long. We did good and so did the kids until we were about an hour away from Valerie's house. Benjamin was complaining of a stomach ache...something we all had from dinner on Fremont Street. Well finally the very curvy roads got to us all and Ben hurled all over the car. Thank goodness we are not in Phoenix weather and we were able to roll down the windows. The GPS told me that we were there at the house and I couldn't find it so I pulled over and Matthew hurled all over then. I tell you what, I was ready to get inside a house and a bath. CC came and rescued us and we got there. I was so excited to see my family, my Aunt and Uncles were even there to see everyone. It is just a great feeling to be back home and I am so happy to be here...even with the puking.
I now have Matthew passed out in my lap and I need to get Benjamin still down. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow....we are meeting up atPinecrest with everyone. I am very excited. I will try to post pictures of this beautful area soon. Oh, I forgot to mention that we passed snow up on Sonora Pass...it is almost 10000 feet elevation. Look forward to more posts...