Catching Up........? February 3, 2010

My favorite cactus coming back into Mesa!



DJ at his lastest game. Have to teach him to not be so nice on the court!





Mackenzie this past week. Adrianna, Mackers and Gary have been staying with us while they try and find a new home to rent. Annoying? At times, Yes. Worth it? Absolutely! Seeing Mackers everyday reminds me to somehow take her mentality everyday. It's simply another day to wake up, have the best day you can, and deal with whatever comes your way as it comes your way.



DJ is still doing good in school but at times has taken a shortcut with homework and such. He is a bit off center since all the family has been living with us, but what can you expect when usually you are the only child in the house and then there are 4 more members?

DJ has also earned the honor of attending a People to People Leadership seminar in Washington, D.C. this upcoming September. His teacher nominated him and Loretta and I agreed that he has earned this opportunity to grow! He will be spending a week there attending various conferences and the key note speaker for his seminar is former First Lady, Laura Bush. Needless to say, he is quite excited!



Michael is attending college in order to get his hours to get into the military. Thought high school was a chore.......eesh!

GO BLUE!

Hoping my directv signal comes back soon.......cloudy and raining hard this morning.

Fw: 1041 S Longwood Loop

My listing on the golf course here in Mesa, Arizona.

Green #4 and tee box # 5 is directly outside your backdoor.

Call me anytime to schedule your showing appointment!

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Monday, August 31

Another beginning to another day! Woke up on the good side of the earth this morning!!! Woo Hoo....

This week looks to be a busy week, as far as family life goes:

DJ made his election poster last night with mom and it looked great! I made postcards today so he can hand them out to his classmates this week. He also has football practice tomorrow, curriculum night, PTO meeting and SIAC as well. Tuesday is busy, busy!

Michael is working more and that is good so he can start to pay his own bills. Only pitfall is no free or reduced price Jamba.....We have looked into the military and as everything goes with him, its not going to be easy getting him in. One issue after issue after issue. Seems as it is never going to end at this point but I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

LJ is super busy with work as I probably suspect she is still trying to catch up on work from last month when she was off all of July. The boys and I try and keep up the house best we can so she can relax or not have so much on her family plate when she gets home.

Mackers, Adrianna and Gary are spending the night before heading out of town sometime this week.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunday, August 30

Yesterday was a good time. We had Mackenzie, Adrianna and Gary over to swim, BBQ, play cards and watch the boob tube. It was a very uneventful day which made it a stress-free day!

Saturday, August 29

Devin at football practice this past week. Personally, I would say not bad on the form but then again, I do have a biased opinion.....

School has since started since last entry and we are going to try very hard in keeping out site up with daily entries.

Devin threw his name in the hat and decided to run for Treasurer for the student council this year. There were 9 candidates on Thursday and the first preliminary vote was yesterday. He was one of two candidates to make it. Now they have to run a campaign and may the most popular student win!

He has joined the orchestra again and is playing the chello. We love his teacher because she will push Devin into bettering himself further. Other years the work was simply to easy and his weekly homework usually took him 5-10 minutes to complete in one night. This year is different. He sometimes needs our help so LJ and I enjoy that his brain is being challenged.

Its hot.......still! Yesterday when LJ got in her call to leave work her temperature gauge in the car read 122 degrees. No really (see photo below). No that wasn't outside temperature but yikes......Today is suppose to be 110 degrees so we are definitely getting in the pool.

Mackenzie, Adrianna and Gary are coming over to spend the day with us. They will be leaving out of town as they will be traveling gypsies for several months. Personally, I hope it only last 3-4 months so I can see my Mackers plus the weather usually gets bad in other states in the winter so driving might be an issue (I don't like the thought of sliding off the road in a 52' truck and trailer w/my Mackers on board!).

Michael is working and we have started the process of enlisting him in the United States Army. He agrees it would be good for him as he will tell you he does not know what he wants to do with his life and at least the military will give him options when he gets out.

Until next time.

Summer - update

Well I am not sure where to start. We never finished the pictures and found more papers to shred......But oh well - July is not my month to stress.

After we took Devin to the amusement park the next day we had Adrianna and Mackenzie over for swimming and BBQ. Michael is living with us - so he was already here and Regina has Dom again so we didn't get to see him. But all in all it was a good day. We had fun in the pool and Marc made the biggest hamburgers ever. We prefer to eat our burgers on tortilla's - and the meat was about the same size.....they were good - and filling.

On Sunday we took off for NM. Michael stayed behind and took care of the house, plants and Pepper. This was huge - we have never left our children alone - BUT he did a wonderful job - we got home the house was still standing, the plants were alive, the pool was clear and the dog was happy - so I would say that is a success..

While in NM we stayed with my Dad and Beth. We had a nice time. Devin went fishing with is Papa - and now he loves it. He caught 2 fish and they even dug up their own worms. One day we took off to Carlsbad Caverns - Devin had never been - didn't really want to go - but ended up really enjoying it and decided he would like to do a presentation to his class when school starts. We also took some photos in the mountains. We hope to get some more with all our kids..but it is nearly impossible to get them all together.

It was a good time relaxing and spending time with family. We even got to see Peg and Jim - and that is always a treat.

We got home Friday and Marc and I went to dinner with some friends. It was a great meal and great conversation. A good way to spend our first evening back.

Saturday we took the boys to see Harry Potter - we have all been waiting anxiously for it - and we were disappointed :(:(. If you are a fan of the books - then I suggest you wait for the DVD - if you just like the movies then you can probably just skip it.....

Next up California.........and fishing - somewhere......I think he is HOOKED.

The Golden Birthday!!!! July 10

Well my youngest turns "10" today...... **WOW** He told me this morning that he doesn't feel older but he does feel more mature.

Since you only turn 10 on the 10th once in your life - we are taking him and some friends to the amusement park Castles and Coasters. It is only supposed to be 107 today - It ended up being 111. Hot Hot hot

This year he wanted personalized sports jerseys - so we got him a Dodgers jersey and a University of Texas jersey - HOOK EM HORNS. He has decided this is where he wants to go to college - and if he stays true to himself - I am sure this is where he will end up....

His friends Antonio, Andrew and Alex arrived and we left the house by 9:30. the first thing we did was play a round of golf. Then we left the park and ate lunch at the mall across the street. I was surprised they all wanted to eat at the same place - Subway. After they all got ice cream we headed back to the park - for the rides. The park was pretty empty (did I mention it was 111) so the boys got to ride a lot.

When we got back to the house we opened presents and had cupcakes. All in all it was a great day and Devin had a good Golden birthday

Shredding and Pictures

Hmmm....Well we got the shredding completed (13 bags) and the office cleaned out. It wasn't as difficult as I thought going through all of those "important" papers. The pictures on the other hand are proving to be not so easy. I am just about ready to throw them back in the bag and put them back in the closet :):):) We will see how far we get today. If we don't get at least one album complete - they are all going back in the closet .......

**JULY**

Well, it is finally here...July...the month I have my month off. Starting at noon on July 3rd I am off for the rest of the month. I am soooo excited just to spend time with my family..... Marc surprised us Friday afternoon with a trip to Sedona :) . He is awesome like that!!!!! I think he knew if he didn't get me away from home I would work......So I logged off at noon and we were on the road by 1:30. We had a great time. It is beautiful up there...The first time we had been and we are already planning to go back.

We have some other exciting things planned for July. First we are celebrating Devin's 10th birthday. It is his GOLDEN on turning 10 on the 10th. We are taking some of his friends to Castles and Coasters on Friday and then on Saturday he wants a family party - so we will BBQ and swim. On the 12th we head out for NM. We are going to spend some time with my Dad and Beth. Then we will leave Devin and Marc and I will do something. Also Devin really wants to go to RED RIVER - so I am pretty sure we will get that in while we are in NM. Then we come back to AZ for a few days before we head out to California. Oh and did I mention we want to paint and build a deck also.......oh and shred over 12 years of "important" papers we have kept.....and try and get about 10 years of photos in albums..... :):):)

See you soon!

Cloud formations during "fake" rainstorm....

Sent from my Blackberry.

Saturday, June 6

Wow! Where did May go?

We really haven't accomplished much this past month. I have been busy with real estate, Loretta is going through various changes at her work place which calls for longer hours, and DJ is moving up to the 5th Grade where I am sure he will remain his usual high flying self! The photo on the right is of DJ at his year end Orchestra concert at Brinton Elementary. I cannot say it enough....well rounded!!!! The other photo is of DJ and one of his best friends, Andrew.

Little League officially ends tonight with the closing ceremonies after the championship game. My team, the Dodgers, did not make it and we did lose our two opening games so we were knocked out of the tournament rather quickly. I never judge our season by wins and losses and unfortunately too many parents stress upon their kids that is how you have a "good" season. Do I want to win? Absolutely! At all costs? Never, because you then compromise who you are and what you stand for. My opinion of a good season is judging how my kids improved. Too many parents yelling at their kids from the stands instead of encouraging. Just once I wish the parents would just drop off their kids at the ballpark and not be allowed to enter for just one game! Talk about just being able to enjoy the game....WOW!

Mackenzie at DJ's baseball game in May, 2009.

We are trying to keep Devin busy for the next month or so and all of you back in New Mexico will see him at some point during the week of June 12-18. He is flying back on June 12 and LJ and myself will drive to pick him up on June 18 and stay the weekend. We are planning on going to Los Angeles and Seattle the last two weeks of July. Not sure if I want to be on the road for up to six days, but I guess when you have time to spare and all day to get there......we'll see. I hear good things about Seattle so if anyone has any opinion, good or bad, please let me know.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Antoine de Saint Exupery

Part II / May 7

His most favorite sport...... to the dismay of his baseball loving Dad!

May 7 2009

DJ playing hoops in the pool this afternoon.

IMG00357.jpg

Chase Field roof open tonight @ D-Backs Little League Night.

April 24 2009

Family dinner.

Friday April 24 2009

The past couple weeks had been terrible with the wind! I was able to take this photo and the haze you see is not smog, it is dirt flying about.

Thursday April 24

Did he make it?

Thursday April 23

How cool is technology????

A picture of DJ waiting for the bus this morning.

Thursday April 23

I now it's hard to tell but our pool is looking Schweet!!!!