Memorial Weekend....great for making memories!

We had such a FUN Memorial weekend! We started it out with a trip to Saguaro Lake for some jet skiing. My friend Becky and her two kids came with us, and I'm so glad they did! The kids played ALL day without any fights or crying. O.K. there was a little crying going on....when Becky tried to put her youngest in a life jacket to take her for a ride. (She wasn't going for it!)

Makayla and Elly playing like best buds!

The whole gang!

***Becky, lets be sure to read the rules of the lake before we go again, so next time we won't get any hand gestures thrown our way!!

On Sunday, (I know.. shame, shame) we had a block party/moving party for one of our great neighbors. We have done this twice before but this was one party that will be hard to beat. The food was delish, the games were fun, and the company was out of this world! We are SO blessed to live on a street such as ours....there are kids EVERYWHERE and they are all friends. (the moms are too!) So fun! We are sad to see one of own leave, Donna you will be missed. John who the heck am I going to have water fights with now? It's okay like I told you, "You'll be back...I give you six months and you'll be back." (Mark my words!)

On Monday we tried to go to the lake again, but it was CLOSED!! I have never heard of such a thing, they said too many people were there and they couldn't let any more people go. We tried to be sneaky and find another way in....all three ways were blocked with cops. So we ended up going to Fountain Hills and having a picnic and letting the kids play in the water at the park. We then went to Basha High School for more swimming. If you haven't been there, it's a must! My kids thought it was a mini SunSplash, they loved it. Best part is costs $0.50 to get in, we will be spending lots of time there this summer, for sure!

So mad I forgot to take pictures!

Clayton took the day off on Tuesday, so the fun continued. We took the kids to a movie and lunch and of coarse we ended up at the pool afterward, I swear my kids are part fish.

I wish every weekend could be a long weekend, we had a blast!

Cheap Entertainment!

What do your children do to entertain themselves? Makayla has quite the imagination (I wish they all did) she can pick up just about anything and find some way to entertain herself.

Dressed in Styrofoam and leading music with a window washer thingy.

And of course, she has to make a silly face for the camera! LOVE her!

Out with Kindergarten and in with 1st Grade!!

Cody did it! He passed Kindergarten. We had an awesome year, but we were all ready for it to come to an end. No more lunch making, water bottle filling, homework signing, hair curling, and schedule keeping!! (at least for 3 months) Cody and Callie were blessed to both have GREAT teachers, Cody had Mrs. Cruz whom we just LOVE!! I told her over and over she better request McKenzie for next year.

Cody was lucky to have his cousin London in his class!

Mommy Time!

I love when I get to sneak in a little MOMMY only time! I love it more when I get to spend it with good friends. My good friend Becky came into town and we were able to hang out and go get pampered! I love when Becky comes into town, we just pick up right where we left off like now time has passed. We can lay around on the couch and do nothing and it's completely fine with us. Becky you are welcome to come anytime!!

Callie's award for "All Around Good Character"!

Callie is a very shy, loving, respectful girl! She received her second "Good Character" award at school. I love when my kids get acknowledged for their hard work and especially for being respectful, it makes me want to believe we are doing something right as parents. We are proud to be Callie's parents and love that her younger siblings look up to her. Keep up the good work Callie we love you!

Callie with her proud little sister McKenzie!

Callie with her teacher and two friends that received the same award!

Our boy child!!

Cody was chosen to play on an all star team for coach pitch baseball! Three players were chosen from each team to form two teams. They played their hearts out, and Cody loved every minute of it. He has really become a good ball player. He had me call all his cousins to come watch him play, and he was grinning from ear to ear every time he got up to bat! He's our "STAR"!

He's the one in the middle....not the one grabbing himself! LOL!

What a group of talented kids!

Better start watching what I say.

Today McKenzie went with her dad to get an oil change and on the way they saw a pretty bad car wreck. When I met up with them later, she told me all about it and then said, "Mom the car was jacked up!" (I say that all the time)

Later in the day Makayla unbuckled her seat belt at a stop that only Clayton was getting out, when I asked her why she unbuckled she said, "I guess cause I'm a brat." (we call her "the brat" cause she screams whenever she wants something anyone else has.)

I guess we better find nicer words to use.

Our New Toy!

We have been wanting one of these for a LONG time, but couldn't seem to find one that could fit everyone. Our subdivision had a community yard sale and this was our find of the day! Why didn't we buy one sooner, the kids LOVE it! My car never gets used anymore, this is way more fun. The kids favorite place to go is McDonald's drive-thru for a daily ice cream cone.

Look at the size of that thing! "Limo Size" for our "Limo Size" family.

Wow! I did it!

I trained for the Whiskey Row 10k (6.2 miles) race in Prescott for about a month and all the training paid off! I ran it in 1 hour and 6 minutes! I was hoping to beat my time from my London's Run I did back in January (1 hour 2 min.). DARN! I am still very proud of my accomplishment of just doing it, the altitude and all the hills are enough to kill you. The first 1/2 mile into the race all that was running through my head was, "What the heck did I get myself into? I'm NEVER gonna be able to finish this." My lungs were burning so bad from the altitude, but I ran through it and finished! The hills were intense but the scenery was AMAZING! I would not mind one bit if we had to move there!

Clayton's dad and sister (Rashel) were crazy enough to run the 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) and they did AWESOME -- someday I'll try it, but for now 6 miles is plenty for me! The amazing thing is that Clayton's dad just started running in January!! And to complete a 1/2 marathon is OUTSTANDING! Great job grandpa!

(Before the race!)

We have no idea what we are about to endure! O.K. Rashel does - she did it last year!

Me..Home stretch!

Rashel

Grandpa!

After the race! We are all proud of what we just accomplished.

A Big thanks to all the family that traveled to come support us! We love you.

The Mowers in April

Wow! I can't believe April is almost over! We had a few fun and not so fun things happen in April.

The not so fun, was McKenzie woke up in the middle of the night one night with croup. She gets croup with EVERY runny nose she gets, but this time was bad! (At least I thought) She was scaring me and everything I tried didn't make it any better, so we loaded up and headed to the ER. And of coarse, by the time we got there she was much better. The doctor said the cold night air was good for her. She did start getting bad again while we were there, so at least the doctors didn't think I was fibbing and just wanted to venture out in the middle of the night. They had to give her an oral steroid to help open up her airways, and then put her on a humidifier for 45 min. and then we were good to go.

(Lucky for her, I carry my camera in my purse!)

One of the really fun things was..... I was able to have a GIRLS NIGHT OUT!! We have the best neighbors EVER, and all of us moms are good friends. We always talk about having girls night out, but it seems to never workout. This time we made it a priority and we are sure glad we did, it was a blast! It was fun to get away from the kids, and not have to yell "CAR" in the middle of every conversation. (All the kids gather in the street to play everyday -- 22 kids if we are all out at the same time!)

We call ourselves "The Street Moms"

(We missed you Alli, and Anna - we will do it again!)

(I look like a dork, they had me cracking up.)

Clayton took me on a date to the Suns game! We had awesome seats - we were able to see some good friends while we were there too! (They just happen to be sitting a few rows down from us!)

(Can you find the "Waldo's" in this picture?)

Some random cuteness went on in April too! McKenzie and Makayla saw these sunglasses at the mall and had to have them!

(future Rock Stars!)

We were able to take the kids to the Monster Trucks! We had an awesome time with lots of cousins! The kids LOVED the show.

We ended our April with a "BANG!"

Doing this post made me realize two things.....

1. I can't smile and keep my eyes open at the same time.

2. I wear black A LOT! (I really don't, I promise)