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!

The weekend after Easter we took the boys fishing. We drove up to Fry Mesa, took a picnic lunch and our fishing poles. The only missing was the fish. The boys had a blast but we didn't catch anything. I think they were biting right before we got there. Some people had caught a ton but were out there since the AM.
Covin and Conner did really well. Shaffen practiced with them the day before casting their lines.

I was quite impressed that they could do it all themselves. Conner was a crack up! No help me mama I do it myself. That is all he has been telling us lately!

Soakin in the sun. We all needed a tan! Covin would be content just sitting here all day!

Covin by the waterfall.

Conner thought he was big stuff. He made me nervous after a while. He was getting really brave!

Although we didn't catch any fish it was fun to get away. Shaffen was disappointed but I am sure we will go again. All we need is enough soda for Conner and the rest of us can just hang out!

Easter morning the boys woke up to a suprise. I think we forgot to tell them that it was going to be Easter the next morning. We had a very busy weekend.
Covin pretty excited about all of his stuff.

Conner wasn't really sure what was going on. Although he was happy about the candy!

I tried to get a picture of the boys with their new ties. It is quite the project. This is the best out of 6!

The next day Conner discovered his chocolate bunny. It was HUGE!!! Needless to say he did not finish it EVER!

It has been a while....crazy busy as usual so I am trying to catch up! The weekend before Easter we went with Rachel's family and Jarrod's family to Bonite creek. We had a picnic and an Easter egg hunt.
Conner thought he was big driving his dads truck on the dirt road.

Conner looking for eggs......

Conner didn't really care how many eggs he got, just that they had candy in them.

Covin and his way red face. They had a lot of fun!

After the egg hunt, Nikki went home and we took her boys (excluding Dex) and went to the end of this road. We drove through the creek multiple times where it crosses the road. The boys thought that was great. Shaffen and I were cracking up at how much they were laughing. At the end of this road there is a little cave. Covin has been there before but the other boys know way to much about caves to be excited. Jate and Conner were not easy to convince. They both wanted me to carry them. I kept telling them that it is not a scary cave. Jate thought there would be bats. Conner thought there was going to be a bear. Those boys watch too much TV!!! It was hilarious.

Once they were inside they didn't want to leave. On the way back down the road each one of the boys got to drive through the creek. They thought they were so big!

What would I do without these BOYS!!!

It has been a crazy month....BUT I will be done with this semester in 1 month from today!!!! YEAH!!!!!
I have a million things to do but I wanted to write a few things down before I forget!

On Friday night (yesterday) I called my sister Rachel and asked her what they were doing for the evening. I didn't want to stay home, Shaffen was gone to work. She told me and the kids to come over and we would go eat somewhere. We went to dinner and afterwords she thought it would be nice to get the kids a movie. Steven and I stayed in my expedition with all the kids (oh, yeah I got a smokin deal on an expedition, bringing my car buying I believe to 17) so while in the vehicle the conversation went like this:

Carlee: "Dad, Covin has the HUGEST Gap in his teeth, he can stick his finger in the middle and touch his gums!!!" (quite dramatically)
Seriously I think Steven and I turned around immediately, somewhat laughing but completely confused.
Me: "What can you do?"
Covin: "No, seriously I can touch my gums!!" Very adamant about and very serious....
Steven and I started dieing laughing. Seriously what do you say to that.....ummm that's great, what a huge accomplishment!


Isn't this GREAT!!! I am so proud to be able to make an orthodontist wealthy! Well hopefully his other teeth next to them will grow in and push them together! I thought it was hilarious!

And then there is CONNER!!! He is such a mess!!! I was in a pretty good mood this day and decided to get the boys a bottled soda. Covin and I went to Walmart and got a few things and brought Conner and Shaffen home some things. Well Conner was quite happy about his drink. He made me REALLY nervous with it. I didn't want Soda all over my carpet or the kitchen floor. He did SOOO good for about 4 hours. Around dinner time he came in from the backyard grabbed his drink off of the table and I saw it slipping. So of course I yelled and down to the floor it went. It started running towards my carpet so I was a LITTLE frustrated! :) Anyways, I told him I wasn't mad but he needs to be careful. I wouldn't let him have it again. Well at dinner there was a little that didn't spill out on the floor so I gave it to him in a cup. He did so good for about 5 minutes when he spilled AGAIN!!! Seriously he never spills. As soon as he did he looked at me cause I jumped up and said, "Sorry, mama! I Love you...you so nice!" I couldn't help but laugh. When I sat back down he came over to me and started hugging on me and kissing my arm.

How can you stay mad at him!!!???!!! He is such a Turkey!!! What would I do without these boys!!!!