Our Disneyland Vacation

We left Tuesday the 22nd around 3p.m. and didn't get there until after midnight...YIKES! After spending the night at Andrea's, we headed to Disneyland. We started the day off at California Adventure. Jennah was tall enough to go on the "California Screamin'" roller coaster, so she talked us into letting her ride on it (with me by her side of course). We were so shocked that she even wanted to ride it! She didn't get to scared, although she kept her eyes closed and her head down the WHOLE time. After spending a few hours there, we headed over to Disneyland. Stevie LOVED riding the main street train! The 2nd day was ALL at Disneyland. We started at "Toon Town" and worked our way to the front of the park. Kirstie got to ride her 1st roller coaster and absolutely loved it! When she got off, she shouted "That was TOTALLY AWESOME!". She's definatly an adrenaline junkie! The more exciting the ride the more she liked it. The worst part of the day was the "meet the princesses" line. We were in live for over an hour to meet three princesses...so not worth it! We stayed until closing (which is 10PM!). The best thing about staying so long, is you get right onto the rides...NO waiting! Kirstie loved "Splash Mountain" so much that she rode it three times. Jennah said she forced a smile for the picture, but I think she actually liked it- she kept her eyes open! Stevie was asleep, which was a good thing, because he wouldn't have been able to ride it anyway. It was our last ride of the night, so we decided to end it on a good note. Friday we headed for the beach. It was a beautiful day, except we forgot to put the kids in swimsuits. So they got really wet...Oh well. We had a great trip and made lots of good memories!

Kirstie my "flower child"

Steve has been gone out of town for the last few days, so our kids have been a little extra "clingy" to me lately. Well, the other night Kirstie climbed up on my lap while we were watching t.v. A commercial came on that had a man standing in a field of flowers. I guess it got Kirstie thinking, because she let out a sigh and said in a dreamy sort of voice..."I wish I could sleep in a pile of flowers". I thought it was so sweet, I just thought I would share it with you.
Just a quick note...Jennah informed me that the songs on my playlist were, in her words, "too romantic", so she helped me to pick out some more upbeat songs. My favorite one is "cuppycake". You just have to listen to it! Hopefully you'll like it as much as we do=)

Where we live

It has really been a quiet week this week (thank heaven), so I thought I would give you a little insight into where we live. St. David is a tiny little town. The school is nice and small- just how I like it. There are only two classes in each grade with 20 or less in each class. The only store in town is a little gas station called "Express Stop". Just about everything here is within walking distance. The closest town is Benson- only about 6 miles away. We are only about 10 minutes from Kartchner Cavern's, and about 15 minutes from Tombstone. Sierra Vista & Tucson are only about 30-40 minutes away. So we have all the advantages...small town life within close proximity to shopping, dining and entertainment. The house that we live in is...well it really has something to be desired, but rent is cheep! It is a really old mobile home that has been remodeled on the inside. The only windows on the front of the house are in the two smaller bedrooms, and they are really long and narrow, so it is really dark in here. There are no ceiling lights (or fans) except for in the living room and computer area. The trailor itself actually has more square footage than our other home, but right now, I am feeling like "trailor-trash". The carpet is old and dusty- blue. It does not match any of our furniture or decor. Last week my vacuum wasn't working so well, so I turned it over to check it out. What I found was soooo gross! It looked like someone had been saving the lint from the lint-trap and then just stuffed it around the beater bar. It was actually disinegrated carpet! So everytime I vacuum, I'm vacuuming away the carpet bit-by-bit. SCARY! The bright side is that this is only temporary. I decided to take a few pictures of some of the things that I actually do like about the house and share it with you. (Notice that all the pictures are of the outside )

There are two pomegranite trees, one in front, and one in back. This one is the bigger of the two and it is in the back yard. I'm really hoping to have some YUMMY fruit! Hopefully the birds won't get to it first... wich reminds me, there are some BEAUTIFUL birds here. We love looking out the back door to see them. Our favorite are the cardinals. Every once in a while we'll see a really bright orange or yellow bird, but we don't know what they are. There's alot of woodpeckers too, and the kids love to watch them! I also love waking up to the sound of the doves.

Kirstie, Stevie and I finally got flowers planted in the front today. The trailor is so ugly that we felt it needed something to pretty it up a bit. The first picture is looking South, toward the front porch.

This picture was taken from the front porch looking north. Not much sun shines on that part of the house, so hopefully our hard work won't be in vain!Of all the types of flowers we planted, this one is my favorite- it's a Vinca...and it's pink of corse! We also planted marigolds, petunia's, and "little purlpe pansies". Anyway, we can hardly wait until our house sells so we can have a nice home of our own.

Family Home evening, an ingenious son, and a lost tooth

Kirstie before she pulled her tooth out. It totally grosses me out to see her teeth just hanging there, but she seems to like it...ewww!Hooray!!! She FINALLY pulled it out last night, instead of waiting for it to fall out like she has in the past. I didn't get any pictures of Kirstie's first two lost teeth, because she waited so long that her permanent teeth were already in, so you couldn't even tell that she had lost them. If you look close enough, you can already see her permanent tooth peeking through.

Stevie loves trying to be like daddy! The other day he figured out how to make a "trailor" by tying a rope to his bike and hooking it to the car. I thought it was pretty ingenious! He very seldom rides his bike without pulling something behind it now.

Steve decided that for family home evening this week we (meaning he) were going to build a sandbox. He got tired of the kids always digging holes in the back yard and killing what little grass is there. We went out to the wash to get the sand. Stevie, as you can see, wasn't much help, but he did have fun playing in the dirt with his daddy's big shovel. Jennah was trying really hard to be a big help, even when we told her she didn't have to shovel, she kept right on digging. Kirstie I think dumped more off the side of the truck than what actually made it into the truck.

Steve built the box out of some boards that were left behind at our Camp Verde home. Not a bad sandbox for the cost, which was NOTHING! Jennah and Kirstie were using the frame as a balance beam while Steve was figuring the easiest way to get the sand from the truck to the sandbox.

Stevie decided to go pet the neighbor's horse while we were filling up the sandbox. That horse just loves the kids, anytime they are outside playing, he comes over to check things out, and maybe get some food :)
The finished product! Not a bad family home evening...Thanks Steve!!

What every mother dreams of...

...or has nightmares about!

So here's the story... Friday night I had a meeting to go to, and I was trying to get the house cleaned up before the babysitter came. The kids were playing so well together, that I didn't pay much attention to what they were doing. I was busy cleaning the living room (that has no windows!) so I couldn't see what was going on. I stopped cleaning for a moment, and I could hear the sound of water running...bad sign! When I looked outside, to my horror, there they were, playing in the muddy water! Now I know better than anyone that kids like water and mud, but didn't they know I was in a hurry?!? To make matters worse, Jennah, who is 8 and should know better, and Kirstie were out there with no pants on, and Stevie was naked from the waist down! To try to contain my anger and frustration, I got out the camera and tried to laugh it off. I have to tell myself at times like this, that they grow up too quickly, try to enjoy every moment-even if I don't have time to clean up the mess.

I'm a little late in posting this, but this last weekend the Webb family got together in St. David to celebrate Chandler's Baptism. It was also Rayla's 18th birthday on the 28th, and Kyle's 15th birthday on the 29th. So we just partied all weekend, and it was lots of fun!!

Raymond thought it was real funny to "paint" Stevie with his leftover chocolate frosting. Stevie thought it was a hoot, and he did look awful cute! (Notice Raymond laughing in the background!?!)

We sure love Grandma "Pete", and we were so glad she was able to come!

We sure had a fun time visiting with (almost) all the Webb family (sure missed Tyler and Jenn!) at Brent and Suzie's this last weekend. I wish we could have gotten a picture with everyone together, but this was the best I could do.

Matti, Jennah, Noelle, Maura and Kirstie outside the St. David Church house after Chandler's baptism on Saturday.

Kirstie and Maura had the same dress, and they were so cute I just had to get a picture of the two of them!!