she finally did it!

On Friday July 18, my mom finally graduated from college! We met up with her and Jim in Casa Grande for lunch at the Golden Corral and then drove up to Glendale to the new football stadium for the Cardinals. The University of Phoenix sponsers the stadium, so that is where the ceremonies were held. My mom got her degree in Accounting. The main speaker was Oprah's ex, Stedman. Way to go MOM! I'm so proud of you and am glad I got to see you get your diploma in person.

Elle Belle is gone home for the summer....

On Monday, Jess took Elle up to Phoenix for her flight home back to Oregon. The time she was here went by fast, and we could'nt go on a big vacation liked we had planned, but I hope she enjoyed it here as much as I had having her here. Besides my kids fighting and arguing all the time, I think she did. Elle, I love you and hope you get to come back next year! Thanks for spending part of your summer with us!! Here are some pics of Elle we took while she was here.

Happy July 4th.....

On July Fourth, we had a busy day! First, I woke up real early to play basketball for a few hours, then we headed over to the church potluck breakfast at Continental Reserve Park at 7:30am. Lots of good food and water games for the kids. After that, we came home to rest for a couple of hours and then we went to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus. I haven't been to the circus in forever, so I was just as excited as the kids were to go. Unfortuntaly, Rynn and Braydenn weren't feeling that good, so they didn't enjoy it has much as we hoped. But it was still a good time and toward the end, Rynn got into it. After that we stopped by the house to get our swim suits and headed over to my friend Ryan's house to BBQ and swim. The kids had a great time swimming. We then ate and watched a movie, then I took they boys home and Jess took the girls to see the fireworks with everyone else. We saw a few on the way home, coupled with some lightning which delayed the fireworks on "A" Mountain for almost an hour. It was a busy day, but a FUN day all in all!

Fun at the Oasis...

On June 30th, we took a trip up to Phoenix to spend a couple of days at the Arizona Grand Hotel and Resort. They have a water park called the Oasis. Before we got up there, we stopped by my Mom's to see my brother Jesse, who was visiting. It was good to see him even though it was for only for a little while. We then headed up for the fun! Jess took the kids to the water park after we checked in, and I took a nap (had to work that day). They spent over three hours there, so we didn't eat dinner until after 9pm. Yummy McDonald's! In the morning after a good night's rest (the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in at a Hotel!)we all went to the water park. What a blast! We all got on tubes and rode the river, went down the super fast slides and swam in the kiddie pool and huge wave pool. We all had a great time, except Braydenn pooped out and fell asleep in the pool while Jess was holding him. After the swim, we headed to the Mall and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Rynn did not like all the animal sounds through out dinner and fell asleep. We then headed back home where everyone pasted out! It was a great time too get away and have fun as a whole family!