Summer Vacation

Wow...what a trip! We left for Arizona early on May 24th. We arrived in Gallup, NM that evening and spent the night at a hotel. The next morning we drove to the Petrified Forest National Park (probably 30 min. to an hour away from where we were). We decided to do the "drive through" tour, and figured we'd be through the park in about an hour or so. THREE hours later, which could have been a whole lot longer had we taken some of the trails, we finished our tour of the park. The kids earned a Jr. Ranger badge and were pretty proud of themselves.




Off to the Grand Canyon! We drove up through Flagstaff and then headed to Grand Canyon National Park, the south rim. When we arrived, we unloaded our stuff at the Yavapi Lodge. Of course we were greeted by ELK roaming just feet from the door of our motel room!




The Canyon was beautiful! The pictures we took don't do justice to how huge and majestic this place is. It is so incredible how vast and deep, and yet it is so still and quiet. The kids had a great time, and they earned their 2nd Jr. Ranger badge. After our two night stay, we headed further west to Lake Havasu, AZ.



We stopped briefly in Kingman, AZ so Kerry could introduce me to some of his co-workers there. Let me do a little back-up for a second. Kerry works as an "Information Technology Manager" in the office at PizzaCo. Inc. which has 24 (I think) Pizza Hut restaurants mostly located in Central Kansas, but 7 are in Arizona. Each year the name's of the office staff & managers get put in a hat to win a trip out to Arizona, or for the AZ people - a trip to KS. Kerry won last year, but we were busy with his parent's house remodel we didn't get to go. So this year we made it our family vacation.

Okay...back to the trip. After our stop at the dine-in restaurant in Kingman, we drove on to our "main" destination in Lake Havasu. We stayed a week and a half at Kerry's bosses' house. She lives here in McPherson, but also has a home there (and a couple other places too!). The house was beautiful & we had a great time. Kerry put in 40+ hours working at the various Huts while we were there. This is the main reason we were gone so long. It was getting up to 110 during the days, but humidity was pretty much nonexistent. The same goes for mosquitoes! ABSOLUTE HEAVEN! I love the palm trees & cactuses, but I really missed green grass!




We left Havasu and headed for the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. I've seen pictures of the dam before, but until you see it, I didn't realize just how big it really was! They are working on the construction of a new bridge & road that goes around it. Once it is done you will no longer be able to drive across it, how sad. Terrorism at work in our country! We reached Vegas in the late afternoon and found our hotel in the Old Downtown area - Fremont Street. We stayed at the Fremont. When the sun went down we loaded up the kids and drove the strip. WOW! When we returned to our motel, we decided to walk up and down Fremont Street and take in the outdoor shows going on. There were three live bands playing at different areas, and an FANTASTIC LED light show that goes on over head. It was pretty cool!





The next morning we headed for Zion National Park in Utah. We didn't have a lot of time before we had to be in Moab to meet up with my friend from college, so we took the shuttle tour of the park. We got off at the furthest point the shuttle takes you and did a little exploring on the "Riverwalk Trail". The scenery was breathtaking. The kids had a good time walking in the river and climbing around on the rocks. Unfortunately the requirements for the Jr. Ranger program at Zion would have taken too long to complete, so the kids didn't earn a badge there.




We loaded back up and headed to Moab, UT. The drive there was gorgeous. It seemed as if the scenery changed every five minutes or so. It would go from mountains to canyons to buttes and mesas to cliffs and back again. I think it was one of the most beautiful drives that I have ever taken. We arrived in Moab just before sunset, and met up with my friend Karen. We stayed at a motel and got everything ready for our adventure the following day at Arches National Park.

In the morning Lenae had to get a little swimming in at the hotel. Afterwards we got all packed and ready to head just outside of town to the park entrance. If you've never been to Arches, you can drive through the park and stop at the various "points of interest" along the way. There are also tons of trails that you can use to go exploring even more. We were able to take a mile hike behind the north and south windows (famous arches). The kids did pretty good. Again, pictures of these natural rock formations just don't do them justice. If you ever get a chance, you have to go!






That evening we headed back to Karen's home in Glenwood Springs. We stayed with her for two days. While we were there we did a lot of catching up. We also drove to Aspen and to Independence Pass. Going from over 100 degree weather to 50s while on Independence Pass was a little shock to the system! We even saw some snowflakes.



We headed to Aurora, CO (Denver) to visit Kerry's cousin four a couple of days before making our way back home. We had a good time as always. We were able to go out on the lake, and the kids got to go swimming at the pool in the sub-division where they live. Of course Kerry had plenty of fun harrassing Beth too. We are planning on going camping with them in OK over the 4th of July. Ought to be fun!

We arrived back home on June 12th. I was so glad to finally be sleeping in my own bed. Vacations are a great break from "life", but make you realize how wonderful "home" really is!

Quick...I have but a second

Not really, but I do need to get some things accomplished today. Only 4 days left to go for school. Lenae will be old enough to be in my classroom the year after this coming school year! ACK! Where does the time go?

We are heading out for a family vacation soon to Arizona and Colorado. We'll be staying in Lake Havasu for two weeks, then slowly making our way back through Colorado. We hope to visit the Grand Canyon, The Arches, Hoover Dam, and some other place. I need to purchase one of those tether strap thingies for Ryan. I don't think I'll be able to do the Grand Canyon trip with out it. Either that, or I'll bring a roll of duct tape. I don't think he'd appreciate that much. LOL!

My garden is going well this year. I started by planting seeds, Unfortunately, with all the rain I wasn't able to get them in in time, and they got too big for the seedling tray and started to croak. Some of my cucumber seedlings made it and they are doing well! I ended up buying plants and got them in the ground about two weeks ago. We have 2 cantaloupe hills, 1 watermelon hill, a bed of carrots (from seed) and another of lettuce (from seed), 4 cucumber hills, 1 jalepeno plant, 1 chili ancho plant, 2 bell pepper plants, and four tomato plants. I've also got a nice row of mammoth sunflowers (from seed) growing along our fence. Oh...Lenae's class is competing in a 50 lb. cabbage plant contest, so we have one of those too.

I suppose that's all for now. I've got to make a trip out to the grocery store. Ta ta for now!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring Break! It's been an awesome week so far, and it's only Tuesday. I've gotten tons done around the house. The kids and I have worked outside and cleaned up a bunch leaves left over from fall, and we've got the garden about 3/4 of the way ready for planting. Today we took a break from all the "work" while I prepared a special St. Pat's day meal. We invited some friends and their daughter (who is leaving on Monday to volunteer in Africa for 6 weeks at an orphanage) for supper. Lenae cleaned off the patio table and we ate outside. It was BEAUTIFUL weather for enjoying family and company! Enjoy the food photos...of the leftovers! LOL!


Mmmmmm....corned beef brisket with carrots & cabbage (no leftover potatoes)


Ramen noodle & cabbage salad....YUMMMMMMM!!!!!


Lemon Meringue Pie with a twist - it's green! It was refreshing!


Gotta have some shamrock cookies!

Tomorrow I plan to head back out for some more yard work. Kerry cut down one of our big Austrian Pine trees this past weekend, and I need to finish raking the pine needles and twigs. Unfortunately with the "pine wilt" disease making it's way through our area, we've now lost 2 trees to the disease. We'll probably take down a third tree in the near future. It doesn't have the disease yet, only "tip blight". However it won't be long until it will succumb to the disease. Bad news is that there is a fourth tree right next to it that will need to come down eventually too. :( I guess on the good side we'll get rid of those darn pine cones and needles that cover everything! Oh, and our red maple tree will be able to really spread! We also need to pick out some replacement trees. Exciting...but planting trees are a lot like caring for newborns. LOTS and LOTS of work.

And speaking of planting here is a quick picture of my gardening stuff for this year (including Lenae's new gardening gloves that she coerced me to buy-LOL). I'm going to get the seeds started tomorrow I think. Yay! I've got two flats with 72 peat pellets each. Ought to be plenty. *I hope* ;)

Can I back date?

Okay, so I never said I was a regular blogger, but I really didn't plan on going this long between posts. LOL! Maybe I'll make a late New Year's resolution: post something at least once a month. There it is, in print. Now, let's see if I can keep it up.

I suppose since I last posted, a lot of things have happened in life, including mine; but nothing that is really monumentous. Well, in my life anyway. I suppose having our first African American president is pretty important, but I don't agree with him much anyway. I will however to continue to pray for him, and particularly for God's guidance in his decisions.

As far as our family, we took a much needed vacation over Christmas break to Branson. We stayed at our timeshare for a week and had a great time. Kerry and I cringe now that we purchased the thing some 10 years ago. Knowing what we know now, about how they are such a rip off, we definitely won't be "upgrading". However it is now paid-for, so we'll keep using it. Our condo was comfy, and just being away from home and the hum-drum of daily life was such a nice break. My parents came up and stayed with us as well.

The only bad part of the whole trip was when we thought we were going to an "update" type of meeting and it turned out to be another blasted sales presentation. They really didn't like hearing that we do not borrow money, nor do we use credit cards (GO Dave Ramsey!)for any type of purchases. I don't think they thought we were serious. I mean really, just how many times did we have to stop them and say we were not interested? It was nuts! It was fun being educated though on "sales pitch techniques" through our Financial Peace University class and then watching them all being used in their stupid sales pitch. Right down to the exit interview/quality control lady that was supposed to fill out a survey with us. She asked us ONCE if we were treated nicely. Then proceeded to talk us into buying. Um, NO! Oh, and just incase you are wondering - I'm referring to Wyndham Resorts. However we bought into it when it was Fairfield Vacation Resorts. Oh the beauty of sales people finding young, in love, and totally clueless people!

Dang...I don't harbor any bad thought's about that do I? LOL!

Today is Valentine's Day. I need to go take a quick snap-shot of the beautiful flowers Kerry had delivered to school and upload it with this post. I'll do that here in a bit. While I'm doing that, I'll get one of Kerry's balloons too. He likes to embarrass me when he can, so I made sure to get him back yesterday. I sent him a HUGE balloon that plays "Wild Thing". Of course I sent it to the office where all the people he works with would get a kick out of it. He said it got played quite a bit, and sent me a text that said I was bad. Heck, he got a KU windsock and chocolate & nuts too! What more can a man want?

Well, I'm glad to be on the down slope of winter. I'm so ready for spring, even though we've had a very mild winter this year. I suppose I can't complain too much. I'm starting to decide what I'll be planting in my garden this year. I'll be buying seeds and all the stuff to get the seedlings started soon. I've also got to get the ground worked up and find out what I need to add to my soil to have a good harvest. I'm really excited to get started on time this year! I hope the kids will enjoy watching everything grow as much as I will.

Off to take a couple snapshots, and post some pictures here in a bit.

*update* Incase you didn't notice, the added pictures are at the top. :)

This N That

For starters - Thanks for the idea Tigger....love my new background!

Fall Conferences 2008 - CHECK! They went great! Grades were pretty good this quarter, so I didn't have much to give parents to complain about. :) My kids's conferences were good too. My daughter likes to talk a little too much (who knew?!) and my son is getting better at using his words. Ahhhh boys!

Pumpkin Patch Visit - CHECK! It was a great day, windy, but great! The kids had fun along with Kerry and I too. Well, except for that small moment in time where we figured out we lost the camera. Thanks to some honest person, we got it back though. Note to self - don't let 8 year old go to the bathroom with camera...it will get left behind. Oh yeah, I am to blame too. LOL! We went to the Pizza Hut after all the pumpkin patch excitement. Drive off after having supper and about 2-3 miles out of town I realize that I left the camera back at the restaurant. DOH!

Halloween 2008 - CHECK! I can't believe that is over and gone!?! Christmas will be all too soon, but then again, I'm really looking forward to the break and vacation with my family. Of course, giving presents is always a joy, and Midnight Mass is my favorite of the year. You can't forget the lights and sounds of the season either. I love Christmas!

That's all for now...hope you enjoy the photos!

Just how long is too long?

So it's been about 4 months since I posted. Yeah, I'm due for an update! As I look back over those months, I notice time has really flown by. One of the biggest pieces of news: We moved Kerry's parents into their newly remodeled house a couple of weekends ago. Kerry still has some smaller inside jobs to finish up, as well as getting the yard cleaned up and the fence put back up. But it can be lived in, and that's what matters most!

Lenae is doing well in school and enjoying 3rd grade. She's getting taller by the day and I fear she'll soon pass me up. Ryan had some trouble adjusting to preschool. We finally got the potty training down right before school started. Well, for the most part anyway. But, he had a rough first day and has never really let that memory go. I still battle it occasionally with him, but he's doing better.

Lenae just completed her first marathon this year! A full 26.2 miles! The kids at school ran 1 mile each day for 6 weeks. Last week they had their final mile and a big celebration afterwards, complete with t-shirts, medals, necklace charms, and a snack.

I just finished up with parent teacher conferences today. 1 quarter down, three to go! It's going by FAST too. Conferences went very well, and overall, I had good reports to give. Sure makes it easy (for me and the parents) when most everything is positive news.

My dad's mom died this week. She was 89. She'd been sick for a while and had spent the last 8 years in a nursing home. She went peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday morning. I wish I would have been closer to her, but we just never had that connection. I really enjoyed hearing my cousin talk about his memories of grandma. It showed me a different side of her, one that I never really experienced.

My thoughts are drying up, so I guess that's my cue to bring this to an end. Till next time...

It's a blur

Summer has gone by incredibly fast, as usual. Unfortunately it didn't take us anywhere this summer. In fact, the farthest that I got was my class I took in Wichita ~ how sad! With the closing and remodeling of Kerry's parent's new house, our time to get away has been completely squelched. We are possibly thinking of taking a trip over Christmas vacation though. We'll see what happens. All I know is, someone better be darn thankful when Kerry's done...cause it's been 4 months of non-stop fixing, moving & remodeling.

Ryan is officially 4, and is finally making some pretty good progress in the toilet training department. I knew he could do it, although I spent many a day being a skeptic. It's been a frustrating journey, but we are finally seeing lots of progress. It looks like he'll be able to attend preschool!

Lenae is bored, and ready for school to start. We bought school supplies and more uniforms over the past couple of weeks. She's officially ready to go! Well, except the whole registration thing. I think I might get her in to have her hair cut. She looks really cute in shoulder length hair, and I think it would be easier on the morning routine.

Well...I'll leave by posting a slide show of various kid pictures taken in July. I did add a few photos on the end of my new hobby. I think I talked about it in an earlier post this summer. It's really been a lot of fun starting this garden. Although I planted everything about a month and a half late, it's looking pretty good. My pumpkin plants are really getting big, as are the watermelon plants! I can't wait until next spring. I'll be on the ball then. Hopefully I'll also expand and have that whole section of the yard behind the fence into a garden. This year was just an experiment. Oh...my dad brought me some fence to keep the critters out. :) I just got it all up tonight.

Till next time!

Are you kidding me?

Take a look at this:
CNN: Communion Wafer Held Hostage
Sometimes it really does anger me that people can get off by saying just because, "I give you money" they have the right to decide what's right and wrong. As in this case, this college student believes that it is his right to remove a consecrated Eucharist from Mass to show it to his friend who has questions about the faith because the college faith community receives money from the school. What? Are you kidding me? I have no doubts that many do not understand our belief of the Eucharist and what it means, but if your friend has questions...take him to Mass, talk to someone who knows about the faith, READ a book! For crying out loud there is a vast array of possibilities where you can investigate the beliefs of our church, but don't take what is considered one of the most sacred objects from our celebration and put it in a ziploc baggie! I also can't believe he is shocked that someone tried to get it from him! DUH! If you believe in the faith, and the Eucharist, and what it is - he should have expected it!

Okay...I'll get off my soapbox now.

Toad-a-ly Awesome!

As I've said many a times, he's definitely a boy! He's outside playing with this little guy as I'm typing this. And yes, that is the dog's water dish that is now the toad's swimming pool!

Mid-summer already?

Time has flown by as usual this summer. Lenae attended a soccer camp for the first time ever, and she said she enjoyed learning about the game and playing. She and Ryan have also been taking swimming lessons. This is Ryan's first year taking lessons, and I was worried about how he would do. He LOVES going, and gets pretty upset when it's Lenae's turn and not his again. He was quite entertaining to watch during the first lesson. There were 2 teachers and 5 preschoolers. Ryan wanted all the turns. He kept telling them, "How about me?" It was too cute!

This weekend we accomplished another "first" at our home. Lenae's first slumber party! I'm sure they'll be many more in the future, but this time we decided to get our feet wet by only allowing her to invite 4 girls. One wasn't able to make it, so we ended up with 4 girls total, including Lenae. They had a ball! Lots of swimming, pizza & popcorn, more swimming, and of course a lot of laughter. The only thing we need now is a bigger house!

This week Lenae will be attending Totus Tuus (Bible School) here in town. Hopefully she'll make some new friends. I am always concerned about that since she commutes with me 35 miles away to go to school. Most of her friends (like the ones she's pictured with above) are all out of town, and I'm sure that is difficult for her.

This past week I also took a class in Wichita at Botanica. It was called "Gardening in the Classroom." It was an awesome class! I have a lot of ideas for the teachers back at school to use with our new school garden that was started at the end of the year. Hopefully I'll be able to tie somethings into my social studies classes as well. It would be much easier to tie things in if I was doing science (although I would not want to teach science anyway). With this class I am now done with getting college hours until 2010...when I renew my certificate. Then I'll have 5 years to get 4 more hours. I'm just glad I'm done for now, and that I ended on a high note.

Keep crossing your fingers with Ryan and his potty training. He's getting there bit by bit. He knows what to do, it's just getting him to consistently do it. He can tell me and he can get up on the big potty himself (he doesn't like the training potty). But to get him to do it on a day to day basis...forget it! I'm still trying to be patient, but 4 year old preschool starts in August! He's already enrolled, and this year I really want him to go.

Until next time ~ enjoy the sunshine!

A few photos

An update, if you please!

It's been a while and I thought I'd do a laundry list update.

April 4 - My inlaws moved in with us
April 6 - Lenae turned 8 *cry* my baby is growing up WAY too fast!
April 9 - My brother's birthday
April 11 - 1 week with inlaws here
April 12 - Found a house for inlaws, just a few blocks away...put in an offer
April 14 - Offer accepted! Closing July 1
April 18 - 2 weeks with inlaws here
April 19 - Found a buyer for their farm
April 25 - 3 weeks with inlaws here
April 27 - Lenae made her first Communion - pictures will be added later, and again, my baby is growing up!
April 28 - My 6th graders put on the 2nd annual "Medieval Festival". It went SO much smoother than last year.
May 2 - 4 weeks with inlaws here
May 6 - 6th grade Field trip to Hutchinson Underground Salt Museum/Mine - We had a GREAT time!
May 9 - Mother's Day Mass - 6th graders did a fabulous job & after Mass, I took the rest of the day off!
May 9 - 5 weeks with inlaws here
May 16 - 6 weeks with inlaws here...MOVE OUT DAY!!! They moved to a rental about 4 blocks down the street. We also begin working at their farm packing things up. Oh...the stories!
May 19 - 6th grade graduation...my last day with this years class. This year was definitely a bittersweet occasion. I REALLY enjoyed my class this year. They were one awesome group of kids.
May 20 - Last day of school! Wa Hoo!
May 21-June 1 - Continue working out at the farm trying to get it cleaned out.
May 27 - Lenae lost another tooth (she pulled it out because she "needed money") Poor girl has BIG gaping holes in her mouth. I hope the permanent ones come in soon.
May 31 - Closed on their farm
June 2 - Lenae started soccer camp (and she likes it - YES!)
June 3 - Ryan's first ever swimming lesson. He did great and was a hoot to watch!

That's it for now....I'll get some pictures up soon. :)

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!

OH Yeah baby! Awesome nail-bitting game, with a dream come true ending!

Way to go KU!

Spring Break!

Beautiful aren't they? I was hemming some pants, and they put what I cut off on as hats. LOL!

We just got finished playing cards with some of our friends. Sadly, I have to report that the girls lost 3 to 1. Oh well, sometimes you have to let the boys win so they'll keep wanting to play. Yesterday was our first "official" day of spring break. Kerry was diagnosed with Strep throat, Ryan played with his 1 million hot wheels, and Lenae and I made the yummy cookies that are pictured! Frosted sugar cookies are my absolute favorite cookie! YUM!



Lenae will be making her first communion next month. She's very excited about finally being able to go to communion with us. We found a dress this past week (thanks mom!). I picked her up so shoes that just happened to match too! When the day arrives, I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos to post. She'll also be turing 8 here in a couple of weeks. YIKES! Guess I better figure out what we'll be doing for her birthday too.



Ryan is wearing us out as usual. He has taken a liking to the phrases, "you're a pain in the ying yang" and "meanie". He's also FINALLY decided that going to the potty is fun! Now, to get him to tell us that he has to go, instead of us playing the guessing game. Maybe by the time he turns 4 we'll have it down!

Happy Easter!

Hardest thing I've had to do this week....

A challenge from Jeanne....

I guess that would have to be being the emcee at the Geography Bee today. Although it really wasn't THAT hard. Thank goodness we didn't have a ton of parents. Put me in front of a crowd of kids, and I'm good. Add adults, and I get weak in the knees.

A Survey

Seeing that I don't have much to post right now...I thought I'd do this instead: (by the way...I'll do a real update this weekend when I have more time!)

Name someting you eat with fruit: cottage cheese
Name something you make with fruit: smoothie
Name something you do with Flour: make dough
Name a color not in the rainbow: pink
Name a college in the South: Texas A&M
Name a state in the West: California
What is something teenagers do on Saturday night: Drink
What is the most used room in the house: Kitchen
What is the most used appliance in the kitchen: Refrigerator
What is a fun food to take to the theatre: m&ms (easy to sneak in)
Name a kind of dancer: Belly Dancer
Name a type of root: Carrot
What is another word for male: boy
What is another word for female: girl
What dog breed is typically the smartest: jack russell terrier
Name a child's cartoon: Bob the Builder
Name a Disney Movie: Cars
Name a romantic comedy: Somewhere in Time
Name a horror movie: Nightmare on Elmstreet
Name a food that is good with garlic: Bread
Name a food that is good with milk: Cookies
Name a food that is good with ice cream: Brownies
Name a pizza topping: Cheese
What is the best way to call a dog: whistle
Name a government office: President
What is a word that has the word Key in it: keyboard
What is a phrase that starts with the word Don't: Don't touch!
Name a type of house: Ranch
Name something that people do just before going to sleep: Take their medicine
Name something you associate with McDonalds: Fries
Name someone famous named Billy: Billy Idol
Name something made of metal: Scissors
Name something you build with wood: A desk
Name something you do while on a camp out: roast marshmallows
Name someting you light with a lighter: candles
Name an exercise that everyone hates: jumping jacks
Name a tree with the prettiest flowers: redbud
Name a reason (other than being sick)people call in sick to work: Tired
Name a piece of furniture that is most comfortable: Couch
Name something people steal from work: Copies
Name a popular Milkshake flavor: Strawberry
Name a movie with the word Kill in the title: Kill Bill

Merry Christmas!

Today is the first day of winter, and appparently mother nature wants us to take notice! It's been crazy here the past couple of weeks. We started off the 2nd week of December with a horrible ice storm that the thousands in the dark. We were fortunate and never lost our power, although we did lose our internet for a few hours. After that storm left we had a day of respite only to receive about 9 inches of snow! That melted and we enjoyed fairly nice temperatures for a few days, 40s and even low 50s. This morning we woke up to 35 mph winds and blowing snow. Yay!

In the ice-storm, My in-laws lost their power. They have been staying with us for the past 12 days. All in all it hasn't been too bad. This morning they went out to the farm to check on things and feed the animals, as they have done every morning, and found the electricity is back on! Yahoo! They are going to spend one last night here tonight and then get groceries and head out tomorrow. Now, as long as the roads don't drift to the point of being impassable we'll all be happy campers!

Ice Storm Damage

Here are some pictures from the damage at my parent's house.

The dog ate it

So what do you do when you tell your child to eat their supper....and he feeds the dog with it? LOL! I told Ryan to finish up his hotdog. He ran into the kitchen and then came back and told me that Casper at it. I about died laughing! Note to self - When asking Ryan to finish his supper, make sure Casper is with me or in his kennel. Also be sure and tell Ryan NOT to give his food to the dog.

What can be better than hand made?

I have found that I really enjoy making altered items with my scrapbooking things. The last thing that I've been making are ornaments to give away in our goodie bags this year. Although, I think I might have to make some for home too! I found this idea on another website, and it looked easy, but very pretty. Hope you like them!