Play Ball!

This is the Apache Junction Parks and Rec league and Jarom and Ben are getting to play baseball for the first time this season! They are so cute! Ben just loves to throw and get treats! Jarom is quite good and his coach calls him "Canon Arm." He loves it!

I'm working on getting the pictures of them playing uploaded from our camera. Having trouble because there's too many on there:)

Ben's Fieldtrip Friday

School time for Ben! August 12th,2010

So to make this time with Ben fun we decided that we'd do Fieldtrip Friday! We go every other Friday with our friends to different places. We went for our first one to Tempe Beach Park and played in the water. Ben loved it! Hope to do all sorts of things. We plan on going to the Zoo soon.

Josh is Co-President

Josh made his Band Council! He was so excited he made Co-President today!

School Daze!

At Brinton Jarom and BenHere's my Elementary crew at school on first day!
Josh the top of Jr. High this year!
Brookly, Ben, Brennen and Jarom ready for school

Brookly and her new stuff - actually this backpack was from last year but it ripped out the first week and we did have to buy a new one! This year we didn't buy backpacks, we bought new lunch boxes but we'll see how long the backpacks last.

Brennen ready to be Pres!

Jarom is always a joy!

The boys who were ready early!

Dallin the Junior! Driving next week on his own!

Ben is ready for whatever comes his way! Look at those tired eyes still!

No wonder we crashed during reading time for our home school.

Here we are back to school again! I have a Junior at Skyline, an 8th Grader at Smith Jr. High, and a 3rd, 5th and 6th grader at Brinton Elementary! Oh, and don't forget precious home Preschooler! What a JOY school is! I had forgotten how peaceful it can be around here! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and really enjoyed having them home and really do miss them BUT... quiet time is heavenly! Ben and I do little workbooks, run errands, work on the declutter never ending projects, even got a nap on the first day of school (have yet to repeat that bliss), do Fieldtrip Friday - went to Tempe Beach Waterpark and we are going this Friday to the Zoo! What fun to play with my 4 year old! I wouldn't trade this for whatever benefit socially Preschool could have been! He is just so funny and a blast to be with! Now, just to clarify, that's when we play, not for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Walmart with Ben throwing things in the cart and not staying in his "big boy" seat in the huge carts last Friday! No fun at all and more like pulling teeth! But I love our time together!

On to the first day of school jitters and antics: Random Wednesday start of school meant that Dallin had late start and Josh and the rest of the crew had early release...don't get me started on the messed up school system. So I took my little Brinton Bears and took pictures much to Brennen's dismay but Brookly and Jarom's delight! Ben also was completely ready and had to take his backpack and lunchbox with the kids to school. The kids had been up late because of how anxious they were and 6:20am came mighty early for this crew that went to bed all summer around 9-10pm and got up at @8am. They were exhausted but excited! So we got all the new supplies and backpacks and lunchboxes in the car and headed off for this new year adventure. Then we took Dallin to Skyline and Josh got his first carpool ride with the Gray's. On Wed. they drive in am and I drive in pm. The rest of the week it's reversed. My elementary kids all came home with stars in their eyes and big dreams about this great new year with great teachers and fun friends. Brennen is running for Brinton School President! He is so cute and excited! He is running against 3 other great kids so we'll see what happens. Hopefully Brookly's friends will help his votes. I would love to see him get this when he didn't make it last year and he's such an amazing kid! IF he doesn't make Pres. he'll try for Class Representative. That's what Brookly is running for in her class as well. Brookly and Jarom start Gifted (ELP) this week and have creative projects to show their classes. We made Brookly a suitcase of her trip to Paris for her 1st day at ELP today. It turned out so cute and she used the wood plate that Grammy Denham brought back from Paris as a souvenir to show the class. Good thing I helped go through Grammy's stuff or it would have been burned with so many other precious things that were tossed.

When we picked up Dallin he said he hates school and every class is boring except A Hour Seminary. Because Skyline had messed up his schedule again this year we went the day before school to get him put in A Hour Seminary form A Hour Weight Training. They wrote it down on some change form and said it would happen. Of course it didn't the first day so I emailed and called. I was assured they were working on it. By the next Monday (day 4 of school) I went back to the counseling office and was told he'd have to come wait in line (again) to get the change. He now has 3 unexcused absences from the class he wasn't taking because they didn't change this when I went in before school started and no locker for PE so he has to carry his shoes and clothes and books all around every day because he wasn't there the first day when they handed them out and they are out of locks and lockers. Nice! If he would have gone to Weight Training instead of Seminary he would have lost his spot because it is so coveted. Well, what do unexcused absences do? We'll see... He had a 1000 word essay the first day in English and not too much homework since. Is there ever a rest to a mother's emails and phone calls to keep the school in line? Remember there's no Marching Band this year because of grades last year and he has to fit in PE and the Algebra 2 that he failed.

Josh enjoyed school and is trying for Band Council. I hope he gets it. He wants to do Cross Country and get involved a little more. He turned in his National Junior Honor Society forms all filled out with his service hours from the summer so we'll hear about that soon as well. He has had homework every night but seems to be faring well. He says some of his classes are boring as well but he's doing good.

That's our back to school saga!

Easter Sunday - March 28, 2010

Ben and his Daddy

Me and my boys

My girl and me

The Wesley Gardner Family!



Our sweet children!
I am so blessed! I love these precious children and my sweetheart so much! Of course there are the usual challenges and each day is a new adventure in patience but I love them more than I can say! What a beautiful Easter day as we reflected on our Savior and His life and love for us! I know that through Him we can be together forever as a family. This has come to mean so much more to me as I think of my dear friends who we lost in this last few years. Love continues forever.

Neighborhood Egg Hunt -

How many eggs did Josh find?

All our friends together for this tradition

Shelby and Denise had a great time too

Brennen got quite a haul!

Ready to hunt! Little ones first! Go Ben!

March 27, 2010- Saturday before Easter

We love living on Ray Lane! We are blessed with wonderful neighbors who we call friends and love to get together with for holidays. Our egg hunt tradition was carried on at the Pena's this year and the kids had a great time! We sure miss Tonya at our events this year and hope she knows she's loved.

Easter at Sheppard's

Jarom loved the candy!
Ben found quite a few eggs:)

Myrna, Jacob and Amy

We love spending time with our Sheppard cousins and Bill and Myrna have been so kind over the years as they include us with their children for family dinners. They even put money in the eggs for each of our children. We miss having our immediate cousins close and this helps to fill those holes. Wish they were here. Always fun to be with family!

Spring Break Amazing Jakes -March 20, 2010

Ben loved this ride and went over and over!

This roller coaster ride made me nauseous just watching!

Jarom was brave!

Dallin kicking back!

Brennen and Josh on the race track

Jarom and Dallin ready to race

Ben is just so cute I take a million pictures of him!

Brookly got Wes to go on this once.

Ben loved this little train!

For Spring Break we had planned to go up to see Greg's family and go to the big Anthem Days Carnival but their kids got sick so we substituted Amazing Jakes. I think our kids were OK with that after we got there! They had a great time!

Spring Break March 19, 2010

For Spring Break we went to Red Mountain park to fish but it was a little too warm for me. The kids enjoyed playing and trying to fish. Wes took Friday off to be with us! We sure love him!

Just Relaxing- March 14, 2010

Wes and Brookly-Rare down time
Grandpa and Brennen

Grandma with Ben - He always brings her a book to read!

We had fun with Grandma and Grandpa around so much more when they were staying down here at Vicki's after Grandpa's surgery. We were relaxing and I wanted to save the memory.

We love you Grandma and Grandpa Gardner!