Do we have to go home?

Yes, those are the words of the kids every time we get ready to come home from the ranch. It was no different this time. Cameron always cries. ;) The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.

The girls and I mowing the lawn. They're such good helpers.

It's amazing how little fighting there is with the kids when you bring a friend! ;)

(thank you Ashlyn)

no, we didn't let Emma drive the 4 wheeler. Maybe next year. :) Cameron's legs were finally long enough to reach the go-cart's pedals. Woo Hoo!

Justin taking the kids for a ride.

We head back up in 4 days. Yee Haw! :)

43 more days until school starts...

Summer Fun!!


I wish I was posting about something a little more fun or witty, but really, it's just not in the cards for me right now. :) Anyways, nothing can beat Elisha Romney's poop story, so I'm not even going to try. ;) So here is what we've been up to.

Cameron and Brady Fuller getting thrown in the air. According to Brady, it was "Totally Wicked" :) Afterwards we made some pizza.

Victoria, Courtney Ridd and Samantha Harms during their 5 hour swim. These are some really great girls. You know, the kind of friends that you want to hang out with your kids. Victoria is pretty lucky to be surrounded by good friends.

Grace's ladybug that loved her flower on her swimsuit. She kept on saying "I okay mommy, I okay." but she had a totally panicked look on her face.

This week we go to the ranch for a friends reception and then we go back for the 4th of July. Show Low and Taylor both have great parades and fireworks. I think we'll even run the Taylor 10k. Then again, I just might sleep in. Hmmm....

Is Summer over yet?!!

Day 3 of summer vacation........."Mom, I'm bored. " "Mom, what can I do?"

I've made the rule that if they ask me any of those questions, I put them on cleaning duty. My house is going to be so clean! (yeah, right) I'm all ready for school to start. But soon Victoria will be at girl's camp, we'll be heading to the ranch and staying as long as possible, going to Utah, weddings, birthdays, and so on. It shouldn't be a very bad summer, I guess. :) I'm very excited to see my Utah family. I just wish I could knock myself and the kids out for the drive up there. :)

Things have been crazy with end of the year parties, awards ceremonies, little league, and so on. Here's a re-cap.

Mother's Day: The best one yet. :) It's hard to relax when you have 8am church, three daughters, and Justin can't even do a ponytail. But he tried so hard to make my day wonderful and it was! The kids made me this card and I loved it. Even Grace colored me a picture. It looks just like me, don't you think?

We went to Peter Piper for......I don't remember why. Oh Yeah Father's and Son's. (I wondered why Cameron wasn't in the pictures. :) We brought Ashlyn Harrop with because we love her and everybody had a great time. (I was reading Twilight for the third time so I was happy also)

Emma's 5th Birthday!!!!

We only do friend parties every other year so this year was a "family party" for Emma. She said it was the best one yet and I agree! We went to Up-Chuck E Cheeses and the kids had a blast. Games, pizza, and Justin actually letting me take a picture of him doing one of the many things he does to make the kids and I laugh. (it's a pink hair extension if you're wondering...)I think he's finally warming up to the camera.....15 years later. :) Doesn't he look happy?!!

KRISPY KREME!!!!!!!
I shouldn't be so happy they opened back up. But I am. We got some for Cameron's class for the "Summer Bday's" school party and of course we had to get some for us too. So for Emma's bday we had pizza, Krispy Kreme's, pink cupcakes, and green pancakes. Oh yeah, the kids get to choose their favorite dinner on their bday. Victoria loves shrimp with fusilli and arugula, Cameron loves grilled salmon with tons of veggies, and Emma.....? Macaroni and Cheese. Blech. But we got out the fancy plates and served up a nice plate of mac n cheese.

One of the presents she got was barbie bath toys that came with soap crayons. I had way too much fun with them. Gracie wasn't too thrilled, but that doesn't usually stop me.

The next day we went to Superstition Springs Mall and rode the new two story carousel. They raised the price to $3 per kid!! What a rip. We obviously gave in and the kids loved it. Even Victoria. :) I love her. She wants to be so cool, but loves doing kid things still. Such a hard age. :)

Hi, my name's Renae and I'm a Twilightaholic

It's been 12 hours since the last time I've opened the books.
I've read them all twice in the last week. I feel so weak,
but can't seem to help myself. I've ignored my home,
my family , and all personal hygeine since I've started reading them. I think I have a problem. :)
OK, seriously though, I totally understand now why everyone I know kept talking about "Edward" and grown women were getting all giggly about a vampire book. I loved reading them and so did Victoria. I saw "The Host", Stephanie Meyer's new "adult" book at Costco and wanted to get it, but I know I'll skip showering and cleaning until I'm done reading it so I
didn't buy it. I really stink and we're wading through garbage over here so I have to clean up first and then go get it.
So, to everyone that recommended these books, I thank you. And if Justin knew that reading these was the reason for my many......."advances", he would be thanking you too. :)

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. :)