September

Grandma's Funeral

September finds us in AZ. I was so sad that Grandma had passed (almost 91 years old) away yet I found myself so excited to be back in Safford. I spent my childhood here. One of the best parts is that we lived in the same house with Grandma for many years. I am sure we drove her crazy but it was happy times for me. I had told my kids many stories about growing up and so I was excited to show them the houses I grew up in.

Classic AZ landscape

Looking at Safford toward Mt. Graham

Tarantula (I am still shivering)

The yellow house (many happy memories)

The yellow house from an angle showing the cotton picker we played in for hours (It's still there??!) and the old barn. We played for hours in this field and our favorite time was when it was in grain and we made tunnels and houses in it (sorry Neal).

Hours at the pool- Thanks to Jay and Tami and Dustin and Amy (I forgot my okra!!:( )

Collecting eggs at Dustin's

grave site

It is so fun to think how many people came. It was a wonderful funeral and I know Grandma is so happy. In some ways I am jealous. She is with my mother.

Jerry and I (love this man!!)

August cont.

Our 11th Anniversary!

I was trying to figure out the best time to celebrate with Ted being in Steamboat, but of course he again surprised me. He called me two nights before and said, "Come see me on Thursday and Brittany is going to babysit!" Thursday came with a beautiful bouquet of flowers- 11 of everything. Brittany came at two and I drove up to see Ted. We had a yummy dinner and I left the next morning when he had to go to work. I was gone less than 24 hours but it was so worth it and on the way home I saw two huge bull moose!








1st day of school!!

The boys were excited to go to school. Joe could hardly contain himself. He has an awesome kindergarten teacher. They all have good teachers and like school in spite of what they say when they have to do homework first and then play.

I actually let them pick out quite a few of the school clothes this year. There wasn't really that much but I was so shocked at what they really wanted. Like these pairs of shorts Ti and Tate have on. In a million years I would never have thought they would have like them. But they wear them every chance they get. Sometimes trying to tell me they got them out of the dryer instead of the dirty clothes. Whatever.

What happened in August. . .

Seminoe!

We haven't been to Seminoe (reservoir in Wyoming) for three years and so this year we were especially excited to go. As you know, this year has been the year for weird weather patterns. Instead of nice and hot, even if the water is a little on the cold side for normal years, it was wet and windy and cold:( But I must say we enjoyed our time anyway.

Up til now, I have been totally spoiled with a camper to camp in but this year we took the wall tent. I was a little nervous about it being too hot in there and sandy but hello!!? can we say "Where was the hot weather???" Luckily, Ted is prepared and when we set up the tent he put 1/2 ton of dirt (literally!) on the bottom flap. Nothing was coming in under the tent, rattlesnakes, rodents or rain!!! The next night was the most terrific lightening, thunder and rain storm I have ever been in. It was truly amazing. But, luckily, we were snug as little bugs. Thanks again Ted and the 1/2 ton of dirt. The tent hardly even budged in all the buffeting wind and no rain seeped in. Although, it did help to be camped on sand. Two tents came down, one with the Niko boys in it and one with the Walton's in it. Ted got up and checked on everyone but I mostly snoozed and giggled right through it. Sorry to all who were miserable. I secretly LOVED it. The whole sky would light up like noon day and then the thunder would rage and the rain would come down even harder. We had at least 3 separate storms come through that night. The next morning it was all blue skies and you would never even know anything out of the ordinary happened. It was warm enough that next day to enjoy the water (for me that mean BATH!:)) But that night anther storm blew in and we ended up having 3 nights of rain.

So most of the trip meant sweatshirts and socks. At least there weren't the mosquitoes to contend with and the fire was that much more cozier. As always there was fun to be had- except for the rattlesnakes that came out after the first storm. Ted killed two biggies up by the 4-wheelers. It just made the trip to the bathroom much more exciting.

We fished and ate yummy food, flew monster kites- thanks to Thad (one of which you had to sign a waiver to fly it, making certain you were at least 200 lbs!!), jet-skied, camp fired with guitar music and enjoyed awesome company.