doggy bone?

Yesterday on our way home from the bank my little Birdie reminded me of a incident that happened to me while I worked for a bank in Utah many moons ago. When she told me about her wanting to work as a bank teller and how she would purposely give my car, only one sucker for both boys to share, just to watch them fight over it....it took me back to my old bank teller days at First Security Bank on Sunset Blvd.

This bank that I worked for would hand out suckers for the kids in the car and little doggy bones for the hairy, four legged babies in the car.
Well, one afternoon while running the drive-up window I had a older gentleman come to the 1st lane, which is right up against the bank. I took his transaction, processed it at my computer and came back to return his receipt and thank him for his business. While preparing the paper work to go into the slide out drawer I could see straight down into the cab of his truck and noticed a hairy little creature resting on the seat next to him. Before pushing the drawer out I reached for the doggy bone and asked "would your puppy like a treat?" The man turned to me with a slight puzzled look on his face and said "What?" I again asked so nicely...."would your puppy like a eerrrhhhh, um....have a great day."

As I was starting to ask the second time I took a closer look and notice that the hairy little creature that was riding shotgun next to him just happened to be his Toupee.

Yes, you are right to assume, I was dog-on embarrassed for me and for him and for his toupee.
But,  I have to add....it was pretty darn funny.

*What would of been even funnier would of been if he took the bone and handed it to his hair piece, and then it ate it! (ha ha ha ha, funny right? or am I just crazy?)

What some people do these days to have a companion.

10 things I love about summer

I wanted to take the "Keep the Record" Challenge and post a list of some of my favorite things about summer. I always loved the summer when I was younger...but the older I get and the longer I live in AZ...I find that I have to go into survival mode and what ever it takes mode to make it through June, July and August. Rules seem to go out the window when it comes to eating at our home. For example, while doing a yard sale, yesterday, we all ate Popsicles before 8am out in the garage to stay cool. Then at 11am, waffles and pancakes were made. And around 6pm after a day of snacking  we ate a huge bowl of watermelon with lime juice on it for dinner and loved it.

Here is my small list:

1. NO school for the kids
     -I love spending time and going on adventures with my ninos.
2. Sleeping in till after 6:30am, if your lucky.
    -even thought the kids don't have to wake up for school, that internal clock wakes them up.
3. Swimming before lunch and then again before dinner.
    -the nicest time to swim is 10-12 and then again around 5 or 6pm
4. eating watermelon as the main course for dinner
5. Popsicles for breakfast while doing a yard sale on the driveway
6. seeing cousins and family that live out of town
    -we tend to travel a lot and it's always an adventure when we get to go see our cousins.
7. family vacations
8. 4th of July and the smell of fireworks mixed with a BBQ
9. my wedding anniversary & my birthday
10. being really sweating all day long thee entire summer (wink wink)

13 & 445

Well it's come and gone just like that.
June 21st Luke and I celebrated our 13th year anniversary with a bang.....WE bought a house. Can you believe it? I know it's hard to imagine people like us actually settling down into one place. I can hardly believe it myself. If you want to know our moving experiences...check it all out here!

Our day was amazing and scary and so wonderful all rolled into one.

8-10 am final walk through at the new home.
11:00 am lunch...just the two of us! (so enjoyable)
12:40 show up at the office to sign papers...both of us just sick to our stomachs, with nerves.
12:45 pm make a mad dash to the bathrooms to find our escape route.
While in the the potty I received a text from Luke saying this
 "I found an escape hatch in the bathroom. Let's bolt."
1:00 pm sign away our lives to this home.
2:30 pm drive home in a daze of confusion and excitement and bewilderment

6:00 pm take our kids swimming at the local pool to get things off our minds.

YEP....it was a great day.

I must say.....set aside all the papers, the new home, the day of appts.

We didn't want to forget the original and 1st reason for June 21st in our lives...the day we became an eternal  family.
 I am still so in love with my Lovie.
I am so grateful for such a great husband and friend.
I love that he understands me and loves me anyway.
He is a great person in that big heart of his and has so much to offer the world.
He is smart and brave and does wonders in a crowd of people.
I love watching him entertain the on lookers and dare I say innocent bystanders. If you know my husband, then you understand.
LOVE HIM!








NOW about this 445

that's the number on my home.
I have been really resistant on saying anything outrageous about this home. actually forget outrageous let's just say I have been resisant on saying anything about this home. I didn't want to sabotage us moving into our very own home. We have tried over the past 10 months to get into a home in Mesa and Tucson and for one reason or another....it wasn't  in the cards for us there. Whether it be short sales, being out bid, or repairs that needed to be made...we just couldn't make the move permanent. But for some reason this home, this 445 home...has just turned out perfectly.
It's not until this moment that I will say out loud, well on this blog, that I love this home, I love that we are here, I love that it's perfect for our family at this point in our lives, I love that we can call it ours, I love that we are happy and healthy and of good report.
In the past I have made some sort of excuse to why we shouldn't be here or how this is wrong or how that just isn't right. I have been a pessimist lately. That's not me.
In my heart of hearts I am a "see the silver lining" type of person, but not lately. I have seen the glass half empty and leaking really fast type of jerk. Maybe it was to not be so disappointed when something bad happened....you know, then I could say "I told you so", or "I knew it".
But...I see a change on the horizon...in fact I see the change at my front door.  I have the door cracked open and I feel it seeping in, and I LOVE IT!

So, here is to 13 yrs of love & our sweet 445 HOME!

Cheers

big timer

MR. Creamers turns 4!!

aka muscles

We had a wonderful party at the PeterPiperPizza in Mesa on our way to Utah. We met the family there and had a great time eating pizza, playing games, eating cupcakes & just visiting.

MR. Creamers is the light of our family.

He makes us all laugh at his faces that he pulls

He makes us giggle with his funny personality

He makes us run and hide when he get anger

He makes us want to squeeze him till he turns blue when he wants to snuggle

He makes us ride our bikes every morning till we are drippin from the heat

He makes us say our prayers

He makes us clean twice over because of his creativity

MY Mr. Creamer just taught himself to ride a bike with NO training wheels while visiting Grandma&pa. He is also just about a master swimmer.

Mr big 4 year old can keep up with his brother and sisters with no questions asked.

 He is a trooper and a sweetie.

I love this kid so much!

another craigslist ad

Again, I was poking around looking for free rocks on Craigslist and came across this ad....I just had to copy and paste it.

AD READS:
.......................
Free "Cup of Noodles" (Eastside)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Date: 2010-06-23, 7:53PM MST


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I have 5 Maruchan Instant Lunch Hot & Spicy Beef and 1 Maruchan Instant Lunch Hot & Spicy Chicken (Cup of Noodles/Ramen Noodles) that I bought back when I was with my ex. He really like them, however I do not. So if you want them, just email.


I'll remove once they're gone.

Beat this!!

Let see if anyone that reads my trash can beat my trash.

Wednesday around 7pm:
Knock on the door,
"Omega Glass" (creepy door to door guy) wanting to repair my windshield
I say "nope"
creepy guy telling me that it's cheaper to repair it for 200 buck than the ticket I would get.
Me saying "thank you and shutting the door"
I walk to the kitchen and tell Luke about creepy guy & our convo
Luke gets his phone, calls his bro and gets a rough estimation on a windshield repair
Brother confirms $200.

Thursday around 12:00
Driving in the car toward Costco (30 minute drive) with all 5 babes
Fighting with my little middle boy to put his seat belt back on or the policeman is going to give mommy a ticket and not be happy with him.

12:10
Still arguing about the seat belt and about to pull over on the interstate so my little middle boy can put his belt on.
Look in the rear view mirror and spot a policeman cut 2 lanes of traffic and get right behind me.
I take a quick check to see if I am speeding and it's a negative.
Say even louder for all belts to be on because I am gonna get pulled over for some reason.

12:12
See the light go on behind me and therefore find a safe place to pull over
My older boy is yelling at the younger boy to get his belt on.
the girls are really scared because the police is trying to get us to pull over.

12: 13
we finally find a spot and get to the shoulder and pull over.
Policeman comes to my daughters side of the car, which freaks her out a bit and asks
"why did it take so long for you to pull over?"
I explain I wanted to get past the off and on ramps and be safe for HIS SAKE! (wink wink officer)
I ask "What's Up"
He then says "your windshield is a hazard and is very dangerous"
I say "you won't believe this....BUT...I got a quote just last night"
He says "OH" like he has heard that one before (BUT IT WAS TRUE)
He looks in the back of the car and sees all my chillin's sitting there so quiet and partly scared...
UNTIL....
the boy with the seat belt issue for the past 5 miles says: ARE WE GOING TO JAIL?
mr. OFFICER SIR says: why would you go to jail?
Big Brother then pipes in: because my brother didn't have his seat belt on until you stopped us.

WHAT!!!!!
was screaming in my brain.
STOP TALKING!!!!

mr. OFFICER SIR says: no, you're not going to jail, but you do have to wear your seat belt
Big Brother, seeing the officer wasn't taking us to jail and was quite nice, starts in on the Questions: "is that (pointing to all his gear) your walkie talkie? or is that? (pointing so some other part)
"what is that for? What is that over there on that side?"
Mr. OFFICER SIr replies so kindly: "this is my radio here and it's connected to this side, that is my baton and it does this and we use it for this and that is my GUN, but I can't show you that"
Fed up with the questions, but oh so gracious about it, policeman went back to his car and wrote me up a warning and sent us on our way.

12:45 Arrive at costco

2:00pm
start our Drive back home after full bellies, tired feed and empty wallets

2:20 (10 miles from home)
notice the traffic is slowing and eventually comes to a STOP.
I explain to the kids there has been an accident and the helicopter on the the road is helping someone badly hurt to the hospital faster.
I start getting frustrated because we are stopped
I notice my gas light is on EMPTY and is giving the "LOW" warning
I start to think where closest station is, which is the exit I just passed
I call my lover and ask him what I should do
I start to  see many cars cross the median to go back the other way and take the exit that is 100 yards on the other side of the interstate...the gas is.
I know I shouldn't, but do anyway...like the 4 other cars in front of me are doing.
I get the front two tires off the road and into the dirt
I then see 4 policemen pull up, block the other side of the road with their vehicles, jump out and yell at all 5 cars (me included) "LICENSE, REGISTRATION and INSURANCE"
I am instantly sick!
ANOTHER mr. OFFICER sir: come to my window gives me the one two about the danger that comes with crossing the median, hears my pleas, see my chillins in the back and writes me a ticket anyway.

 10 years.....no tickets
1 afternoon.....2 tickets

BEAT THAT!
(something that I am embarrassed about but had to write it down)

dudes

The things my boys find fun and entertaining.
.........................
They found these old carseats in the garage and had to be strapped in. When I suggested that they try to get up and walk...well then, that was an added bonus of fun.
At one point my Cartie really asked me "MOM, does this make my bum look big?"
I had to laugh at him and his mind.

REALLY?

Today I was browsing the local craigslist for some free rock and came across this posting....I just had to say:

FOR THOSE WHO DRIVE ACROSS THE STREET, LET ALONE ACROSS TOWN

 TO GET THIS CASSETTE

REALLY???

NICE THAT IT'S FREE...BUT,

REALLY?

AD IS AS FOLLOWS!

free for you- special listening! good luck joy

Family Reunion 2010

We just returned from our annual Family Reunion. We had a blast and want to go back.

1st day....Waterfun, yummy dinner and a Great Talent Show.
 I will have to post video of some of the talent another post!


2nd Day...Off to Hatch Utah were we just about got blown away from such high winds. We were lucky enough to borrow my bro's 4wheelers, motorbike & ranger to cruise all over the country side.

Also we did an afternoon hike to this rock formation where the tale says that a Indian woman long ago was promised to another man, but she had someone else in mind to marry. When she couldn't follow her heart and marry the man she loved and keep her promise to either man, she climb to the top of the mtn and threw herself off to her death. Thus...promis rock. This was also the hike that the entire family walked within 2 feet of a rattlesnake coiled up and nobody knew except the last person in line. So then we all had to walk back by it to apease our couriosity.

After the hike we headed to the local park for games, dad's guitar music and wonderful dinner!

3rd day...a visit to the family cemetary that is hidden up at that base of the mountain. We played a headstone bingo and placed flowers. As we drove back to the cabin we stopped dead in our tracks when we say this tree formation that looked like an S or a $ sign. it's the photo on the top right side....do you see it?

end of day 3....all the adults took the 4wheelers, ranger and bike up the canyon to the top of this amazing look out. On the drive there...it was so dusty in the back of the ranger. My hair was disgusting and dirty and discolored....yet pretty funny! The look out was beautiful and so worth it. If you look close enough you can see a fire burning in the distance.

*side note...some of the family members headed to another family reunion across the mtn.

Good times!

Last thing we did as a family was enjoy a sunday dinner at my parents house.  Closed the reunion with a prayer, again wonderful food, visiting and fun!

Thanks Sis, Mom, Dad, Dace & Laur
and the rest of you wild indians!

Grandparents and Memorial Day

There's no place like home

except Grandma's.

~Author Unknown

Our summer begins in less than 2 weeks and we are thrilled to be going to visit Granparents on both sides of the family.

CAN'T WAIT!

......

.......

-Today I would encourage you to write 10 things you remember about your grandparents and their home.

I am taking the "keep the record" challenge.

Here is mine:

1. My mothers parents had a Pink Bathtub and sink and a faucet that did and still does leak. Their bathroom always smelled of listerine & farm. I loved it!

2. My Father Grandparents home had crystal knobs on their doors.

3. My Father Grandmother always had a correct place setting set on her table and was refered to, by her husband, as the Snazzy Granny.

4. My Mothers Father always carried a piece of doublemint gum in his shirt pocket for which ever grandchild got there first....but always seemed to have a limitless supply. And my mothers mom always chewed the gum "freshen up". When you bit into it you would find the center was filled with a liquid. (wierd & yet a surprise)

5. My Mother's Father had 2 yellow three wheelers that we would all fight over when visiting his home. He taught us a great lesson on sharing. And then we learned that if you didn't want to share, you learned how to drive real fast and jump it real high by the cemetary so nobody would want to ride with you. (hee hee)

6. My Fathers Mom would make the best peanut butter fudge. I would sneek into the kitchen, after I had been given my ration, and swipe a few more pieces.

7. My Fathers Grandfather was named Junius, which is where I get my middle name "june". (Mr. Junius is the man in the middle photo with his sweet wifey....isn't he so handsome)
8. My Fathers Grandparents were teeny tiny people and it seemed that their kitchen cabinets were shorter than normal. I loved their dining area nook and all the windows that allowed the sun to shine through. I remember they had a swinging door from their kitchen into the living room....we loved that door.

9. My Mommies Mommy was a Professional Fisherwoman in her own right. I remember the countless fish fries we would endulge in at her home. I remember once sitting just outside the kitchen window and someone passing my plate full of fish & vinegar, for dipping, right out the window to me. I thought, at the moment, how cool that was.

10. My mom's parents lived on a farm and had the BEST collection of old household appliances tucked out in the tall sagebrush. We would go out the back door, through the garden, under the barbedwire fence and down the hill into the brush that was taller than us and play house all day long. She had old washers, the kind you would have to crank the clothes through 2 rolling pin type things to get all the water out. She had dryers and sinks and old cars and glass colored bottles, old glass electric insulators that we would collect in put in our makeshift kitchen "area". Oh, I loved playing down there, except for the occasional snake scare.


I love going home to my parents home, thinking about all the memories of my own. I can't wait to see what my children will write about when remembering their grandparents. And then What will my Grandchildren write about me?

double digits...finally

This month my 9 year old...turned 10!

I can hardly believe that this little girl was once my one

and only baby girl.

I found the picture of her when she was younger just yesterday and  had to smile because she actually has her own set of glasses now and they are nearly the same.....7 yrs later!

She's the one that:
-I would nap with at the same time in the same chair...everyday
-I would walk around in stores in Mexico and she would get all the attention because of her blonde hair, blue eyes and chubby cheeks
-I would pack around all over the country side
-I would give the world too
-I would secretly wish I could put on a shelf to look at and then occasionally take her down to tickle, poke and play with then put her back.
-I would pray she wouldn't grow to fast.
-I would see all good things in her eyes.
-I would protect from all that is evil
-I would read books to for hours and hours
-I would learn about myself from her

I suppose I should say that all those things are still very much the case...to this day,
except maybe the napping and mexico part.

Oh...that girl is one of my favorite girls in the world.

I love her and remind her daily that she loves me too...and that one day she might not love me so much, but that maybe she will always remember how I feel about her....thus her loving me again. She just rolls her eyes ard assures me that she will never stop loving me.

What a Sweetie, a beauty, a smarty, a doll, an artist, a writer an example!

Out of the mouth of....boys

Just a day ago, or so.... me & my boys were all standing in the hall of a mall and walking by a kiosk for the green nicotine product. Just over the top of the counter there sat two young 25ish year old men eating their lunch and minding their own buisness. I stood close by talking to my love on the phone...at this point we were all at a stand still. As I stood there and discussed the errand he wanted me to run while I am in the mall... by beautiful, fearless 5 year old approaches the men and then said:

"You better wash the tattoos off your arm
or youre gonna lose your job"

the man with his mouth full of food says:

"Huh?" in disbelief that this 5 year old kid would say something like that.

So...because he didn't hear my son right, Cedar gives him some instruction again:

"you better wash the tattoos off
your arm or you are gonna lose your job"

The man wiped the mayo off the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and says with some annouances in his voice:

"I don't think so"

Cedar just smiled and walked off & so did I!

what a dude!
I am glad he knows that we need to take good care of these bodies that we have!