Labor Day at Greens Peak

Our family was in dire need of a little getaway, so we decided to take a little drive up to Greens Peak.  We couldn't have picked a better day to go.  The sun was out, but there were just enough clouds and breeze to keep us cool.  And of course, thanks to the great monsoon season we've had this year, it was SUPER green!

Sisters...even though they may deny it at times, they DO love each other!

Jennah and Stevie at the top of the peak.  The view from up there is just spectacular!

Because there is only so much you can do at the top, we headed back down to play in one of the little groves.Stevie was so fascinated by the moss on the rocks.  He even asked if that was what carpet was made of :)Jennah, practicing her swing with her daddy.

One peculiar thing about the area...if you look closely at the ridge of the hills, the trees only grow on the south side of the peaks.  Anyone out there know why?

Stevie can never tell us enough how much he loves us.  He does it even more now that he knows how to say it in sign language :)

One of the most beautiful places in Arizona.  And the cost...FREE!

Back to school!!

The first day of school was Wednesday, August 11th.  I wish time would stand still for a while...but it just never does.  Jennah is now in 5th grade.  Her teacher is Mrs. Flake.  Kirstie is in 3rd, and she has Mr. Smith.  Stevie is a big 1st grader in Mrs. Rencher's class.  I'm thrilled with the teachers they have.  I know they're in good hands.  So far, so good...(For some reason, the shutter on my camera didn't open all the way, and I didn't realize it until after the picture was taken.  Of course, by then, Stevie absolutely refused to have his picture taken by himself...the little turkey!)

The Grand Canyon survived the invasion of the Self family

Stevie was testing his limits (and mine) by always wanting to go as close to the edge as possible.  One woman who was walking by as we were explaining to him just how dangerous it was, intervened on our behalf.  She told Stevie about how the last time she was there, a grown man sat on one of the ledges and it crumbled out from underneath him, and he fell to his death.  Stevie stayed away from the ledges after that, and I will be forever grateful to that woman.A man came by while Stevie and Kirstie were playing with this dead tree, and I guess he thought they were pretty cute too, because he got a few shots of them on his camera.  Hopefully he wasn't a creepy guy...

And a beautiful sunset to bid us farewell :)

One reason the blog has been neglected lately...

Beauty and the Beast...Steve and I spent most of the summer getting ready for Snowflake Little Theater's production of Beauty and the Beast.  While I was in the orchestra (just check out my amazing form;)), Steve was busy (and I don't say that lightly) building the set.I wish I had more pictures of the set on here to show just how amazing it turned out.  Of course he had a lot of help...most of which were family, but the design was all his.  He did an amazing job!!To anyone who didn't get to see it, you missed a great show.  The cast was AWESOME!!  My sister's daughter Delsy was Belle, my brother-in-law's son was the Beast, my oldest sister conducted the orchestra, me, my dad, my sister, and my nephew were in the orchestra, and few other family members were in the play as well.  Guess you could say we have a talented family :)

Kirstie to the rescue!

After our first kitten ran away, Kirstie was determined to get one of the kittens that were in the crawl space under a  vacant house in the neighborhood.  She had already been under there twice, without permission.  This time we had her all set up with gloves, long sleeves, pants, face mask, and head flashlight.  I have to admit, watching her go under there was one of the scariest things I've had to witness as a parent.This is what it looked like under there.  CREEPY!!!  I'm sad to say, that her attempt was unsuccessful.  The kittens are to wild, and won't let anyone closer than 5 feet.  But they are sure cute :)We (meaning Steve) have since sealed up the crawl space so she can no longer go in there.  It gave me to much anxiety!

The loss of two cute kitties :(

The first kitten was a cute little calico that we rescued out from under our house.  After we asked around the neighborhood if anyone had lost a kitten, and no one had, we decided to keep it.  It disappeared a few weeks later, and Kirstie shed many tears over many nights.  We only hope she found a good home.Our second kitten was one we got from a friend.  He was a good little kitty, and even Steve liked him (though he'll never admit it).  We're pretty sure Lucky followed someone home...he was very friendly and affectionate.  We all got really attached to him, and are pretty heartbroken.  I'm not sure if we'll get another one...it's hard to deal with the sad tears and faces of my children :(

Stevie's 6th birthday...way back on June 30!

He started his day with our usual family tradition of waking him up singing "Happy Birthday to You".  It took him a bit to be fully awake :)Then came the opening of family presents...his favorite part!Then he got his birthday breakfast request...Green Eggs and Ham.  Although, in this case, they look more like green sherbet.

Stevie got to have his first official "friends" party.  They had a scavenger hunt, and slip and slide.Then, the birthday cake.  Please don't look to closely...soccer balls are harder to make than they look!It doesn't get much better than having birthday cake and root beer floats with friends!

Since he's now six years old, I'll share six fun facts about Stevie with you...

1.  Stevie is full of energy, and is in perpetual motion.  I have to be careful what movies he watches, because he likes to act them out.  Not such a good thing when it comes to movies like Kung Fu Panda.

2.  He loves to tell Steve and I all the time how much he loves us...and that he loves us more.  (See "Stevie Says"  to your right)

3.  He is ALL boy.  Instead of flowers, he'll often bring me rocks or sticks (sometimes bugs, but I refuse to accept those).

4.  He is my only non-shy child, and is very friendly.  I think he secretly loves the comments strangers make about how cute he is when he talks to them.

5.  He has really buff calves!  Funny thing he does...when he runs, he only touches the ground with the balls of his feet.  And he does a lot of running! (Refer to fact #1)

6.  He LOVES to give hugs and kisses.  The other day he gave me a big hug, and then looked up at me and grabbed my face and said..."you know, my hugs ALWAYS come with kisses", and then proceeded to give me a great big kiss!  Life doesn't get much better than that!