Our camping trip!

We went camping this last week with some friends and had a blast!!! I have never been camping before where everyone camping are not morning people! Seriously, our group of campers started the day off at about 11am. Hilarious!!!
We went up by Big lake. Went fishing, built forts, boys played in the dirt, hung out by the campfire, and made smores with Reeses (yummy)!!!


We took the boys on a little hike!

Posing for me and eyeballing the termites and ants on the log!!! So they appear a little drunk!

My boys, I LOVE this picture!!!

So here are a few things I brought back from camping!!

1. No matter how much mosquito repellent you have on they still bite you.
2. When the sun comes up Conner wakes up!
3. My boys REALLY do like each other!
4. Getting up and ready by 11 am is great!
5. Hanging out by the campfire is my favorite!
6. You learn a lot about people around the fire! :)
7. Shaffen taking two 55 gallon barrels for water was THE BEST IDEA!!!
8. The first night back in my own bed it the best!
9. Taking a shower the continues to run the water is AWESOME!!!
10. Dutch oven peach cobbler is the best!
11. Not being able to shave my legs that the hair actually gets soft! LOL!!!
12. Smelling like smoke the entire time didn't bother anyone! We all smelled the same!
13. I still really like spot-lighting.
14. Forgetting socks is not the best idea, but my husband always packs to many for himself. Thanks for sharing babe!!!
15. I am not sick of being around my kids or husband!!!

Gas in a diesel truck pulling a trailer $150.00

Food and supplies for the trip $200.00

Hanging out with friends around the campfire PRICELESS!!!!!

We had a lot of fun and didn't really do anything but hang out all day long. Good times!!!

We are LOVING the Summer break!

So far we are LOVING the summer break!!!! Especially me, I am loving sleeping in and hanging out with my kids! They are a blast, most days. They crack me up. They have been playing so good together I don't even have to yell at them for fighting. The only time is when they are just playing to loud! I don't miss school, imagine that! I am enjoying being lazy some days. I have the house pretty well kept up and we always have clean clothes!!!! YEAH!!! Right now we are trying to keep Covin from getting tubes in his ears. He is 6 but has had ear infections like crazy in the last 6 months. We see the ENT on Monday in Tucson. Hopefully he won't have to get them!!!!
So here are a few random pictures....This green eggs and ham book was made by Covin's kindergarten class. Each kid made page for it. It was Covin's turn to read the book the week school let out for him.

It reads...."Covin likes them in the dirt while he squirts." He was so proud that he rhymed. He drew the picture of him with a squirt gun. We were laughing so hard......

And my Conner.....Listening to my MP3 player. He thinks most of the songs are sung by Grandma Toni!

And can't forget BASEBALL!!!! We have been going to games about 3 days a week. Sometimes we will try to catch Carlee's game too! It is fun to see how much these kids change game to game!

This year we were able to get all the older boys on the same team! Dallin (Rachel's kid) Carsen (Nikki and Jarrod's) and Covin. They make quite the team.

Covin's first hit for the season!!!

Made it on base.....And this is him sooo excited that he can stand in as pitcher. They play coach pitch but Covin has been in the pitcher position. Dallin has been playing 1st base and Carsen on 3rd. They are funny too watch. They get so excited when we cheer for them....I think we are the loudest ones there!!

Saturday we drove 2 hours to the top of the mountain to take the boys fishing. I gave Covin car sick medicine cause he tends to get sick sometimes. But Conner would no way no how take any medicine. So we started driving and about 30 minutes into the drive Conner started whining. So I told him to unbuckle and come to the front. He climbed on my lap and thought he was pretty cool sitting up front. A little while goes by he started laying on me and hiding his eyes. Shaffen decided to stop and let them have a break. They ran around for about 3 minutes and I was ready to go. Shaffen was walking Conner back to the truck and he looked at me a said, "I gonna barf!" And puked everywhere. I was sooooooooo glad we stopped when we did!!! I was able to make him bite into an oatmeal creme pie with dramine in it. We were safe the rest of the trip!!!!

We made it finally to the lake and it was FREEZING cold. We brought jackets but that wasn't enough. We were shivering. The wind was really cold!

Covin with his first fish. He and I both thought he was caught up in the weeds. So I helped him get it unstuck. And there was a fish on it!!! He looks so big in this picture....

Conner's first catch of the day!!! He was sooo excited!

And another........

And another.........We were able to catch 6 fish that day. We stayed for 2 hours and had to leave cause we were soooo cold!

Conner hanging out in the front seat AGAIN!!! He was lovin all over us. He is soo stinkin cute!

When we got home we called up everyone to come play with us on the water slide we have. I think Nikki was the only one with a camera!!!

Thanks to Rachel we found out that Walmart was selling slip and slides for 3 dollars. Can't beat that. Conner was liking it very much. Covin finally figured it out!

He had a blast. Cheap thrills....YEAH!!!

Last but not least I wanted to brag on my super smart husband!!!!!

He is almost done with his Bachelor's degree. He will be finished in August. He received this in the mail. He made the Dean's Scholars List. He has maintained a 4.0 in all of his classes!!! He is definitely smart and now we have the paper to prove it! Haha!!! Good job Shaffen, I am very proud of you and somewhat jealous!!!! :) He has been such a good sport about school and work and me at school and work. He helps me out like crazy. I love and appreciate all you do for us!!!!

We have so many things planned for the rest of the month. I love my kids and am lovin being home with them!!! They are so fun and I am enjoying them more and more everyday!!!

My baby is not a baby ANYMORE!!!

Today is my Conner's 3rd birthday! So sad I can't believe he is 3 already! I call him my baby and he tells me, "I not a baby, I big!" We had him his party yesterday with family and friends. He had a blast he has been waiting for this moment for months now. He wanted a Dora birthday so that is what we did. We started the party off with a monkey dance. Wow can those kids bust a move, they were hilarious! Then we tested them on their spanish. I was impressed they knew as much as they did. Then we went exploring! Right before the kids got here Swiper the Fox swiped the Pinata. Each kid got a purple Dore backpack with everything they needed to get to the Pinata. First they had to use their binoculars to find Lolly pop forest, next we had to make it to the big house and wake the sleeping Steven so he would unlock the house to get to the pinata. I think the kids had fun, I hope they did. Those kids wanted that pinata open their swings were VERY powerful!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This is a video of Conner getting his present from his mom and dad!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We LOVE this little boy so much. I can't believe he is growing up so fast. Thanks everyone that traveled and came for his party. He LOVES everything and had a blast!!!

Disneyland: Featuring our "Who would have thoughts?"

Disneyland

We took a trip to Disneyland this last week! We had a blast!!! This trip was a reward to all of us for the long semester of school! Covin did great in school. Shaffen got A's in all of his classes. And I completed my first block of Nursing school. One down and 3 more to go!!! I passed my class with an 87%. Not too bad!!!! Here are some pictures and things we remembered about our week!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So on our way home we got to thinking about some things that caught our attention!! So here it goes:

Who would have thought that:

Covin: "Mom, Disneyland is WAY better than the Fair!"

You can actually put a 2 year old in a snuggly...we didn't do it but that poor kid!!!

Out of everything that I packed I did not pack anything to remove tar from Shaffen's foot. He apparently stepped in some at the beach. Who would have thought I would need tar remover.

We were not the only people pushing over 90#s in a stroller. I actually saw a kid that was about 10 years old in one. I didn't feel so bad.

By cutting Conner's hair before we left actually made him too short to ride some rides!!!

My kids did better waiting in line for the rides than Shaffen did!

Conner is a chicken when it comes to rides. He is scared of everything. The only rides he liked were the carousel and the Caterpillar ride in California Adventure.

That trying to out smart our GPS is NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!

Who knew that a thong could actually stick 6 inches out of someones pants.

That my boys would sleep together!

When we are home I try to be so quiet not to wake them with my blow dryer. While in California I actually wanted them to wake up so I blow dried my hair and they didn't budge!!!

Shaffen is traumatized by men eating the frozen bananas on a stick....great news we did not see one man eating a banana while we were there!!!

Do you honestly think that the bus drivers really have a drivers licence???? Scary!!!

I would have never in a million years thought my boys could have handled driving that far. They did AWESOME!!! No crying, no fighting, and they did not sleep a wink there or back!!! I was so proud of them!!!

That we would have some of the best sunscreen tans ever!!!

My Conner would bust a move and did not care who was watching!!! He is a crack up!

Covin: "Mom, how did sand get in my crack?"

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This was hilarious. Conner and I were waiting for Shaffen and Covin, they were on the Tower of terror. Anyways, I can't remember this characters name but I do know he is on the Incredibles. This man came towards us. Conner screamed and hid behind the stroller. I didn't care, this man kept coming towards him. Conner ducked down behind the stroller. The man insisted that he touch Conner. Conner panicked and jumped into my lap. He then told me, "I can't see his eyes mama." The man thought that was hilarious. So after quite some time I asked the worker to take our picture with him. I was dieing laughing cause Conner was still scared of him even with me holding him. Then all of the sudden Conner says, "Mama, HE BWACK (black)! Why he Bwack?" I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Who would have thought that my camera batteries would have died!!! These are taken from Shaffen's cell phone! Not too bad of pictures!

Covin thinking he is cool in his C!!!

Conner wanting to hang out in HIS O!!!

So all in all we had a GREAT trip!!! The kids did not really want to come back home. Shaffen and I were talking about future jobs at disneyland!!!

10 years ago today!!!!!

Exactly 10 years ago today.....Shaffen graduated from the police academy and started working for Thatcher Police Department!!! Wow, 10 years!!! He is halfway to retirement. Covin will be 16 when he is able to retire, IF he chooses to do so!
I am so excited for him. He has done such a good job his whole career. He was promoted to Sergeant a few years ago. This last week he just finished up the criminal justice part of his Bachelors degree. He will be completely finished around August (he has to take 2 more classes that the school requires and they don't offer them until then).
He is such a good officer, husband, and father. He does everything for our family. He helps me out in anyway possible, even not getting enough sleep! Thank you for all you do for me and the boys, we are so proud of you!!!!

Our Month!

On Friday the 24th, we took the boys to a Diamondbacks game. We met some friends there Steven and Mila Carter and their kids. We got the all you can eat seats! Sounds to good to be true! Well these seats were $30.00. You can eat from the start of the game into the seventh inning stretch!

So on the all you can eat we estimated that we ate at total of:
Hot dogs-19
Soda-17
Water-14
Popcorn-6 boxes
Peanuts-8 bags
Chips-7 bags

Yes I think we got our monies worth!!!!! hehe! Oh yeah, that was between 4 adults and 3 kids and a baby!
Here is us in our section!

My boys all dressed up in D-backs shirts!

Conner so happy with all he can drink!!! I think he finished off 3 sodas himself, but he was very happy!

Conner REALLY liked it when the crowd got rowdy! He would clap along with the music. I was surprised this kid has rhythm.

Such a cute kid!

Here is Covin and Lucy. The kids did really well. They have a Sandlot, which is a play ground up stairs. We took the kids twice and they were as happy as can be. I think Shaffen and Steven enjoyed us being gone some of the time. They actually got to watch the game. Even though the D-Backs lost it was still fun. They even had a fireworks show that lasted about 10 minutes! I would defiantly recommend the all you can eat seats. It is very family friendly!

On other news school is almost out for me!!!! I am so looking forward to it! I have my post test on Wednesday and my Final is next Tuesday, I will be done for the summer. We will be taking the kids to Disneyland on May 6th. They need a break as much as Shaffen and I do. We have never taken them before. They are so excited.

I do need some advice. Conner's birthday is May 31st. He will be turning 3! :( I am so sad he is getting so big. But that is not my problem. This kid LOVES I repeat LOVES Dora the explorer. I on the other hand don't really mind that he watches it all of the time until now. He wants a Dora birthday party. He has been talking about it for months now. I will do whatever he wants of course. I want him to be happy. But Dora things are a little girly. How do I make his Dora party not so girly??? Any recommendations???? Help, I can't tell him no. I took him into Party City when we were in the Valley and he went through everything and still came back to Dora.

On Friday the 24th, Covin's teacher had an egg drop scheduled for his class. She sent home a note for the kids and the parents to make something to put the egg into that she could drop from roof. It had criteria for measurements and she wanted the egg in a ziplock bag. All the kids were so excited. They were chanting each kids names and when it fell to the ground they would chant "That didn't sound good, that didn't sound good."

Covin proud his egg did not break!!!

Most of the kids' eggs didn't break. One little girl was so sad that hers broke she just couldn't be happy again!

Covin's class.

Boys on one side girls on the other!