New additions

We have been busy the last 12 days, I'll start with the 4th, we tried to go and see fireworks, but it rained...good old monsoon, so we watched the ones on tv in New York :). We have mostly been enjoying hanging out inside since the monsoon is upon us, it's not just hot its HUmid, makes it extra sticky outside. So for fun we have been acquiring new things, such as Mark's new motorcycle! It's a 2005 Suzuki Boulevard and we love it! I finally got to go for a ride over the weekend, I forgot how fun it is.





***I have deleted the stuff about Dita, she is no longer with us, only a few days after getting her she got Parvo, which is deadly to little puppies, especially runts, it was a very sad thing for all of us to go through and she is greatly missed*** However we did get another puppy, she's a 9 week old American Bulldog and extremely healthy and FULL of energy! Her name is Pudge and I'll be posting pictures soon.

Courage

I was recently introduced to a complete stranger's blog through my best friend, I have added this family's blog to my "Friends That Blog" list you can find it as A Moms Story. When my best friend (thank you Marylin) told me about this blog she prefaced it with "If you're ever in the mood to really cry" and then proceeded to tell me a bit about the story of a family who lost their youngest baby girl just a few weeks ago, she drown in the backyard spa that had just been put in. When Marylin first told me about the blog I wasn't sure if I would be able to read it, but I found myself tonight, not necessarily needing a good cry, but wanting to somehow share in this grief, its every mom's worst nightmare come true and this woman has the courage to put it out there for the world to read, she has the courage to let everyone in and as some might know writing is really good therapy, so she's sharing as her therapy...sometimes I wish I could do that. Reading her beautifully written words about her family and friends and Faith I have a love for this complete stranger that we should all have for one another yet most of the time don't. I felt compelled to share with all of you this stranger's story so that you may take away from it a deeper connection to those you love and also hopefully create a connection for those you don't know, that just might need an extra prayer or good thought passed their way. As Marylin said "If you want to cry" and I say if you want to cry but feel a love that goes beyond whats comprehensible..please visit A Moms Story...........

Elissa's 9th Birthday!

Elissa turned 9 on June 28th and for her birthday we enjoyed a morning of present opening (Nate was not happy about not having presents..lol..), an afternoon movie, we saw Wall-E which was a really good movie and then for her birthday dinner Mark BBQed some ribs just for her and I baked her some very yummy Vanilla sour cream cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting :) I would say she had a really good day!!!

Nate Loves Mac and Cheese

Nathen and his mac and cheese.......

ABC Tag

Tagged By Marylin



A- Attached or Single? Attached :)

B- Best Friend? Samantha and Marylin and too many to list so I'll let the picture do it..

C- Cake or Pie? I love Apple Pie and I love yellow cake with chocolate frosting so its tough to choose :)

D- Day of choice? Sunday- its part of Mark's days off and the day we usually just have hang out together

E- Essential item? Cell phone :)

F- Favorite Color? Blue or green or grey I can't choose just one :)

G- Gummy bears or worms? Bears when I was little, now neither...

H- Hometown? Born and raised in Las Vegas....but now live in Tucson

I- Favorite Indulgence? Starbucks :) and clothes .... I love to shop

J- January or July? January for sure, I hate the heat!

K- Kids? 2 Elissa and Nathen

L- Life isn't complete without? Family and Friends

M- Marriage Date?

October 29, 2005

N-Number of Bro's and Sis's? 2 Sister in laws..do those count? Otherwise I'm an only child..

O- Oranges or Apples? Apples especially with cream cheese..yumm

P- Phobias and fears? I am claustrophobic and I am afraid of the dark....

Q- Quote? "Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest places if you look at it right." Jerry Garcia

R- Reason to smile?

S- Season of choice? Fall

T- Tag ten people?....Ummmmm my cousin Brittany and my mother in law

U- Unknown fact about me? I used to tap dance and be on a drill team...yea this white girl thought she could dance....hehe...

V- Vegetable? Brocolli ( I never know if I'm spelling it right?)

W- Worst habit? Being paranoid that people are always mad at me or that I'm always going to do something to make people mad at me..lol..

X- X-ray? My jaws and teeth to see how bad my tmj is.....

Y- Your favorite food? Italian, I love my spaghetti and luckily so does Nate

Z- Zodiac sign? Sag

How to beat the heat

As many of you know living in the desert makes for some extremely HOT temps in the summer and this one is no exception. We have a pool but its never clean, also living in the desert means LOTS of dirt and BUGS, I am not a fan of either and for whatever reason having one of those 4 foot vinyl pools means impossible to keep clean no matter how much chlorine or pool shocker or algae fighter you put in it. So I decided to get creative, we have a really big trampoline next to the pool and we have a really long hose, so put the 2 together and you're bound to have some fun :)

The best part about it now is Mark has attached a sprinkler to the hose and fence and now we don't have to have a designated sprayer :)

Happy Father's Day Tribute to Mark

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The kids playing

On a whim this morning I decided to start taping the kids and here is what I caught :)

And here is Nate's bye-bye :)

Nate is 18 Months Old!!

I took Nate for his 18 month check up yesterday and was reminded of how FAST my children are growing, Elissa will be 9 in exactly 16 days, she reminds me everyday of how many days til her birthday. I tell her to slow down and not to be in such a hurry to grow up, its just my selfish way of wanting to keep her little. Nate's 18 month well check went really well..hehe..according to the doctor him getting into every single thing in my house is completely "normal" and that it should be viewed as a wonderful thing, I asked her if she wanted to come to my house for a week and see how wonderful it is..haha..He is on the small side according to them, but I don't care, he's my big little man and he's perfect to me. He learns so many new things every single day its such a blessing to be able to see it and know that I am teaching him all the little things he needs to know. The Big thing he is doing these days is learning how to use a spoon and fork, which is by far the messiest but most fun thing to do yet. He's very stubborn, he won't let me feed him anymore, he has to do it no matter how long it takes him, I still have no idea where his stubborness comes from..hehe...(no comments from my peanut gallery please). Anyway, I just wanted to remind you all to cherish your babies, they grow so fast....you blink and a year has gone by...

The NEW and improved "fort"

Thank you so much grandma and grandpa Bush for providing the kids a Nathen "proof" fort, this one is sure to last alot longer than the others :). As you can see its big enough for even me to get into. Elissa loves it so much she has decided to sleep in it every night for the rest of the summer...we'll see how long that lasts..hehe..