Is stalking a felony?

I went onto Gina's blog this morning and was tempted to copy and paste her latest entry and post it onto mine. (I went almost everywhere she did except the choochie salon for a great haircut. Probably should've followed her there also. I truly need hair help.) I feel like a stalker, but love her company at every stinking thing we have to go to. And here's the bonus.....she takes great pictures of my kids. Things I could never take with my cheapy camera and don't have the eye for anyways. I think she takes pity on me and feels for my kids. I can hear them now, all grown up..."Mom, why is this picture of me all blurry and my head's cut off?" or, "Mom, is that your finger in front of the lens?!" They will all praise Gina's name and send her Christmas cards every year thanking her for the childhood memories she captured on film (since those will be the only ones where their eyes aren't red like the devil)

So Gina, love you and I hope you don't get too sick of us.

Oh yeah, are you doing swim team this summer? :) Just wondering.

Grandpa's Ranch

This is Grandpa's Ranch. My parent's spent the last.....honestly, I don't know how long. Since Victoria was a baby so at least 10 years. So 10 years building our own heaven on earth. (at least it is in the summer, spring and fall. :) It is our favorite place to go to get away from it all. It's a beautiful home with 7 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 42 acres of land to let the kids run wild. There's 4 wheelers, a go-cart, a puppet theatre, a huge ramada for barbq's, a playground, and the list could go on and on. My kids are in heaven as soon as we get there and cry every time we leave. No phones, no Internet, just late night card playing, picnics on the grass, and swinging on the front porch. Does it get any better? :)

Academic Night 2008

Here we are, at another Academic Night. This was the best one yet. It lasted only 32 minutes from start to finish. Woo Hoo!
Grandma and Grandpa are always so good to come to these things.
I think they're just finally glad to be able to go to an academic awards night. (needless to say that didn't happen when I was growing up. Winning the spirit stick at cheer camp doesn't get you better grades. :) I am grateful for Victoria and all the work she puts into her education. She'll be the smartest chef/marine biologist/country singer/stay at home mom there's ever been.

Cakes, cakes and more cakes

Well, if anybody has known me for any amount of time (or seen my butt) you know I love to bake. Some people like scrapbooking, some sew, but I love being in the kitchen. Not the, it's 5:00pm and I don't know what's for dinner and the kids are all screaming and fighting and running around, being in the kitchen. But the, I'm alone (haha) it's quiet, and I'm making something fun, being in the kitchen. Needless to say, this doesn't happen too often, but now Victoria is a huge help and loves cooking as much as I do. She's got a creative flair that I don't and it's good bonding time. I've done a couple of wedding cakes, some baby showers, and too many birthdays. The treasure chest was for Wendy Jones a couple of weeks ago. It was a disaster! But I learn something new each cake I make. I should probably get a less fattening hobby though. :)

Cam the Man

This is our first year doing Little League and I can see now why parents are willing to throw their lives into total chaos between practices, games twice a week, snack schedules, etc. I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time.:) It makes it all worth it. (poor Cameron had to pee and did the dance in center field the whole inning)

PS. Any good photography you see on my blog is courtesy of Gina. Anything crappy is from me. :)

Three down, One to go!

Yeah!! Emma learned to ride a two wheeler. :) She is so excited and thinks she's pretty hot stuff. One more and we're done with training wheels! (you think I'm excited about training wheels, just wait until Gracie's potty trained!!)

YEAH!!!

Crazy Cruise!

This last January, I had the rare opprotunity to get away and go on a girls only cruise with all my sisters and cousins. I can't even write about it without getting giggly. It was that much fun. Eating and laughing all day, not having to clean up a thing and no husbands, so nobody cared about how they looked. :) We left for LA Thurs. morn and went to Wicked that night. It was so good that I cried. I know, cheesy. Sorry. But I am so grateful to Mom for putting it all together. We got on the boat Fri. morning and it was non-stop fun until we got home. Seriously. We danced in the disco room until 1am, ordered 4 desserts every meal (at least I did) and laughed until we fell asleep. Does it get any better?!! We're planning one for two years from now and I'm already excited. I'm hoping more cousins are on board and we can just take over the ship. :)

ps I tried to download the whole video, but it was way too huge, so you get the beginning and that's all. Sorry. :)

Uncle!

Well, I've given in. People keep asking me if I blog yet and I feel stupid saying no. So basically I've given into peer pressure and feelings of inadequacy (it feels just like high school) and started a blog. It won't be cutesy or creative. Anybody that knows me knows I hate scrap booking. I'm using this as my online journal. So here I go!


I guess I'll start with the basics. I'm 34 years old. I swear I thought I was 32 for the last two years. My brother just had his bday and Justin and I had a disagreement on how old he was because "I'm only 32! He can't be turning 36! I'm only 18 months younger than him!!!" I was wrong. I'm really 34. Whatever. I live in Mesa Az with my husband of almost 15 years, Justin, my daughter Victoria, 11, son Cameron, 7, and daughters Emma, 4, and Grace, 2.


We are a pretty normal family. Piano lessons, little league, Wednesday night mutual, volunteering in classes, chaperoning field trips, dance class, church meetings, and on and on. I stay at home and take care of everything and everyone and I love it. I think I'd like to get out and work every once and a while, but Grace will be in school in 2 years and I'll have the chance then. Funny thing is, then I will have the house all to myself and I won't want to leave. :)



I'm probably one of the most spoiled moms I know because Justin is a Captain for the Phoenix Fire Department and works 2 or 3 days a week and is home the rest. I love the time we get to spend together even if we don't do anything. Seriously, how many moms get to have their husbands run errands with them and take and pick up the kids from school? He probably volunteers more than I do, tries to chaperon field trips and I don't think he's missed a career day yet. He is the best husband and father.



Now I'll give you the rundown on the kiddies.


Victoria Renae was born on March 20, 1996. She has been the most amazing child. We've loved watching her develop from a Dixie Chicks singing toddler who knew what a cranium and a patella were into a wonderful young woman. She has a very good sense of humor that she gets from her dad along with a wicked smart brain (also from her dad). (I think she got my ears.) She skipped Kindergarten and has been in advanced classes all through elementary school and now Junior High. She has all honors classes and is getting A's in all of them. It's kind of unfair how she just gets it. She plays the piano beautifully, loves to read almost anything and seems to remember everything she's learned. (unless I've said it) Now if she could keep her room clean she would be the perfect child. :) I am so proud of her and love her.


Cameron Dane was born on June 13th, 2000. He is such a loving, sweet, happy kid. He's always saying "I love you" and giving hugs. He loves being with his dad and they do everything together. Justin took he and Victoria up to the top of the Flat Irons (?) and Justin said Cameron was scaling walls and had no fear. He loves to ride bikes, scooters and his skateboard, and LOVES Star Wars. He also loves hangin with Grandpa and going to Grandpa's ranch. The kid is a clown and will do almost anything for a laugh. (anybody remember the green tutu and red clown nose? :)

Emma Alexis was born May 22nd, 2003. She is so.....umm...she's just a total girl. Everything is princesses and singing and dancing. She is a very articulate 4 year old and loves to comment about the sunsets and peoples home decor. :) "Oh Mom, isn't it a beautiful sunset?" or"Oh Grandpa O, I love what you've done with your Christmas decorations! It's just amazing!" It's like she wants to be royalty and thinks if she speaks like Princess Annalise, she'll become her. Emma also makes up her own songs. Really long songs. When she was three, she would sing and it sounded like Chewbacca getting his back waxed. But it's better now and I enjoy hearing her. One of my favorite things about her is she says the best prayers. I can tell that she is listening in Primary and even to the home teachers because she will always mention it in her prayers. I adore her and will truly miss her when she goes to school.




Grace Estelle was born on June 26th, 2005. She is named after Justin's Grandma Oldfather who passed away before Justin and I were married. I'm grateful that Grandpa O was happy about us choosing her name. We've always had a hard time getting pregnant and we thought we might be done after Emma. I asked Justin to give it three months, and if we weren't pregnant, we would be done. 6 weeks later, the test came out positive. I knew Grace was supposed to be in our family and am so glad we have her. Gracie is a very independent spirit that wants to be free to do what she wants. It's either that or she's just two years old. :) She loves her brother and sisters and is a cute happy child that cracks us up constantly. She also looks just like Justin and has the best dimples. :)




Well, that's all about us. I think I'm looking forward to this whole blogging thing. We'll see........:)