Princess's Send Off

My sister-in-law showed up to take her Princess home. They were actually heading out of town so she brought Princess's little bag she packed for her with all her goodies.



Including a little shirt to keep her warm. Bug was a big helper with the puppies so she was a little sad to see Princess go, but not too sad since she's staying in the family.



Charlie is going to be a bit harder to part with, but we're happy he's going to a good home. Charlie had to give his own send off. He didn't want Princess to feel lonely when she was sleeping in her new bed. He wanted her to always be able to smell him and know he's thinking of her.



Mike, Kathy, and Princess, what a happy little family.

Summer Break/Jobs

I am so in love with summer breaks. I miss them as an adult. They really don't mean the same once you graduate from school and enter the "real" world.

I have a proposal,since teenagers seem to have more time than $$ during the summer and adults tend to have more $$ than time, we should compromise. The teenagers should take over the adults jobs for the summer. It would give adulthood a much needed break, and the youth some doe.

How big of a mess could teenagers get our planet into in just three months? Granted it hasn't taken Obama too long to get our country into a big pile of crap, but teenagers are more optimistic and idealistic. I bet they'd do a better job at running things than our current government.

Giving teenagers jobs equals buckage burning a hole in their pockets and giving adults much needed vacations would be pouring money into the economy. I think this is a win win proposal.

At the end of the summer the adults would be rested and thinking with clear heads. Maybe we could get more done, granted we might have to fix some melt downs, but that's why we have the next summer, too rest from all our hard work all over again.

First Irrigation of the Season

I was mowing the back yard when I heard water flowing in the irrigation. I thought I could stay ahead of the water so I hurried and mowed where the water was first going to hit, then I ran and turned on the water.



Boy was I wrong. The water pressure was awesome so I had to postpone my mowing, darn it. It is a real good thing I didn't plant my garden right after Big D rototilled it (I couldn't because it rained for the next three days after he got done).



I don't know what it is about mud and kids but they are two magnetic forces that refuse to stay apart. And yes, I did tell them not to get mud on their cloths. Too Late!



Beaner was kind enough to build this bridge out of stepping stones so no one had to get muddy. The boys didn't listen, but Bug thought she'd try it since she didn't want to get dirty.



Needless to say it didn't last long. I "accidentally" pushed her in, can you see the tude all over her face. You can't tell she's a tweeny, can you?



That white shirt is not going to last long, why do I bother getting them cute cloths? Oh well, they're only kids once.



I think Bud was the first to dive in. I'm just happy he decided to change out of his school cloths first.



I had all of them line up on the stones so I could take a picture of their dirty toes. Personally I don't think you can see any of their toes. Afterward I had Beaner pull all those stone out before dad gets home from Pittsburgh and tills my garden again. Maybe this time I will be able to plant it.

If you thought that a little rain made it difficult to plant, wait till you see what the kidfactor did to the garden.

Bowling Princess

Our stewardship of the puppies is coming to an end.



Kathy, my sister-in-law, is bonding with her new baby, Princess.



This is Princess's new family. They are taking her home this Friday. They are excited. It is bitter sweet for us. We've enjoyed having the puppies in the house but we are excited for their new adventure. We feel good about their new owners and we believe that both Charlie and Princess will be in good hands. Plus, it's nice to know we can visit Princess any time we want.



Kathy invited us to Jaxon's (Eddie and Julie's youngest) birthday party at the bowling alley. The kids were doped up on sugar so we took them out on the lanes to burn off some of that "energy".



I think we may have a professional bowler on our hands.



I'm as surprised as you that she's bowling with a pink ball. She did really good. Bug always kicks my bum when we bowl on the Wii. This was a bit different, and I won her (he he ha ha).



Wow, look at that form. I'm lucky I didn't split my pants. Bear did great, he only needed help with his first couple tries then he did it all on his own. And, he finished the whole game. I guess there really is a first time for every thing.



Beaner was having a hard time with getting down close to the floor before releasing the ball. I thought she was going to split the ball in half. At least she didn't throw the ball backwards and almost hit the audience, that would've been Bug who did that. I wonder if she was hoping we'd all bounce like in the video game.



Beaner and Bug helped Kathy with her yard sale that morning. Kathy gave Beaner a pair of shoes that she refuses to take off.



I loved this shot, but my darn camera wouldn't work properly, so much for point and shoots.

Pittsburgh

It is official, Big D is leaving me. I don't know how I'm going to survive with him gone. The kids will have a week left in school, the most hectic week of our lives next to the first week of school.

Big D flies out to Pittsburgh for the first of a five week training. He was talking about when he gets to the airport there will be a dude holding a sign with his name to take him anywhere he wants to go. He gets to ride in a limo. Hopefully he isn't expecting the same treatment when he gets home, although that would be funny if we made up a sign for him.

Ooh, maybe I'll do that, shhh don't tell him. I know he won't find out from me because he never reads my blog, unless I write something bad about him because we're in a fight (that only happened once and I took it off my blog).

I was all stoked about the limo because next month I get to go with him to Pittsburgh. I got giddy thinking I get to ride around in a limo. Then Big D burst my bubble when he told me we're renting a car when I go. I guess that makes more sense in the long run. A driver would get ticked at me for making him drive me around to all the church history sites while Big D was in his training.

I told Big D that on the other weeks he's gone, the ones I don't get to go with him, I'm going to take off and leave town too. I'm going to visit my sisters, my cousin and her new baby, and my BFF from high school. Really anywhere I want to go, I'm gone.

This is going to be a crazy summer which means it's going to fly by.

Puppy Play

The weather has been so nice we've taken the puppies outside to play, and they love it. This is Charlie, he's a little spit fire, he takes after his daddy, Roxer. He loves to tackle his sister and chew on her ear. He tries to get her all worked up so she'll fight back, but... Princess Rinnzi Kellen is a lover not a fighter. She is so laid back she lets Charlie naw on her tail while she sleeps. Don't get me wrong, if she's had too much she lets Charlie have it. This is Michelle, she is the proud owner of Charlie. She also was the owner of Kinnzi's daddy, Miles. Myles got hit by a car last year so I called Michelle to see if she wanted one of Myles's grand kids. She does, and she super excited to get to take Charlie home in about two to four weeks. She comes to visit Charlie on her lunch breaks. Aren't they cute together?

This is Charlie, he doesn't like his bum rubbed, but it's too cute not to.

Mat & Kayla

Mat, my nephew, and his girl friend, Kayla, both graduated from college this weekend. CoNgRaTs!!!



We went up to help celebrate with them at Kathy and Mike's house. Lindsey (left), Kelly (right), Little Ken, and Aunt Pat drove down for the festivities.



There was a lot of fun, food, friends and family. Here is the proud mama, Kathy (left), standing with Aunt Pat (center), and Debbie (right).

We were all hoping it was going to be an even bigger party with Mat proposing to Kayla but it didn't work out that way. So my girls begged to go to Kayla's party the next day, we were pretty sure if it didn't happen one day it would happen the next.



Beaner took my camera and snapped the pictures of the big moment. I think she did a pretty good job too.



This is the ring, a beautiful princess cut one carrot diamond. Beaner took a better picture of the ring but I accidentally erased it while trying to download the pictures, oops my bad.



Even though I'm pretty sure she knew it was coming sooner or later, she was surprised.



Mat started with the line, "Kayla you are my best friend" and then he took the ring out of the box. She turned and tried to run into the house but her exit was blocked by all the party goers.



She said YES, YEAH!!! The girls came home happy and singing that they are going to have a new cousing here soon. We don't the exact date, but hopefully we'll know soon, after it all sinks in.

Florida, Take Two

My uncle's back yard is awesome.



This is just one of his back deck. The other one is the one I was standing on to take the picture, it's above the boat hoist. From top to bottom is Bug, Lexxi, Beaner (who is blocking Bear), and then Bud. We couldn't walk on the grass without shoes or we'd get eaten alive, wish someone would have warned us about the man eating bugs that fly in the air too. They were liking the fresh Idaho blood.



Behind the houses there are channels every where. Big D just got done pulling all the girls, including two neighbor girls, "around the block".



It reminded me of roads but instead of pavement it was water. I think Big D would be in Heaven living in a place like this, minus the bugs.



We also had a lot of wildlife right in the back yard. There was turtles and crabs. This turtle was one of the small ones and it was the size of a basketball. The moss made him hard to see when he'd stop swimming.



There was also millions of fish, too bad we're not fisherman. But these fish were funny because they'd jump out of the water, and jump high too. I tried to take a picture of them jumping but I didn't get any good shots.



It was a bird watchers paradise down there. We saw so many birds of all sizes. We were in awe of all the beauty all around us. Notice I didn't take any pictures of alligators, that's because we didn't see any in the back yard, thank goodness.

When we first got there we were a bit nervous about the alligators. Every one we talked to about Florida told us about alligators. Plus, last year when my dad brought my girls down here there was an alligator scare. By the end of the week, and not seeing one alligator, Big D was really wanting to see one, and so was I.

On the way to the airport a canal followed the road for a bit and we saw quite a few alligators in there. It was the icing on our vacation. It wouldn't have been icing if we'd seen them in the back yard. We all made it home in one piece and the only thing that ate us alive were the bugs.

Florida, Take One

The flight to Florida was uneventful. The boys both did great on the plane and it's a good thing Bud plays good with just himself. In all fairness, Grandma Honey tried her hardest to stay awake, but it was a long day.



Big D did NOT sleep the night before our trip due to allergies so he had no problem sleeping every time he sat down. I felt so bad for him starting his vacation out not being able to breath but once we got to Florida his allergies didn't bother him, YEAH!

Bear is just like his dad, he can sleep anywhere. He had a great time on the plane when he was sitting next to Bud but they were so loud with their wrestling and giggles we had to split them up on the next plane. It's amazing how crab nasty people can get when you shove two hundred bodies into a sardine can.



I suffer from a condition called "Kantsleepinmovingvehiclitis" so the girls and I played with all the stuff Grandma Honey packed in their goody bags. All the kids really enjoyed the free soda and cookies they got on every plane. Especially since mom, that's me, doesn't let them drink much soda.



One of the fun things we did was go snorkeling. We saw some Manatees on our way to Three Sisters (where the manatees have their babies) so we decided to jump out of the boat and see if we could get close enough to see them. Bud was real excited and was one of the first to jump into the water. But then something happened and he got freaked out and wouldn't leave the boat the rest of the trip.



Bug took to the water like a fish, I think she's related to Big D. Plus, I think she snorkeled last summer when she came to Florida with Grandma Honey and Papa Guy.



Beaner was so excited to get in the water, it was a little warm out, she jumped right in as soon as the boat stopped. Bear wanted to jump in, like he does off of our boat, but he opted to let Papa lower him in slowly since these were unfamiliar waters with huge animals swimming around.



We came back from snorkeling at the wrong time, low tide. So Big D and Vincent had to navigate us around big rocks and patches of underwater bushes. They did a great job and we promptly learned how to read the tide charts after that.



We also went hiking one day. In the middle of our hike we came upon a river and the kids wanted to look for shells. I was taking pictures of them when I walked over to the side and about a foot under Beaners feet (she's the one sitting on the wall) there was a huge snake. The only thing we could assess is it wasn't a water moccasin, that was a relief. Needless to say, we didn't stay there very long.