Our EASTER season

...was celebrated a week early.

My kids say they are lucky, they get TWO birthday parties, TWO Christmas', TWO Easter's and TWO Toothfairies.

This year, they got there EASTER baskets on Saturday night after having been gone for the evening. "How did the EASTER bunny come early?" "It isn't EASTER yet, is it?" It makes the whole story behind the Easter Bunny,Santa Claus, and the Toothfairy, a little more COMPLEX.

Until they GET their STASHES of Baskets...Gifts...and CASH.

 

 

 

I'm SAD...

I originally started this BLOG at a time in my life that I knew was 

 

going to be

  

HARD... 

and might get HARDER!

I wanted it to be my own place where
I could share all the GOOD I have in my life.

It would remind me to have GRATITUDE and to

remember that I had once been promised...

"To look forward with HOPE in knowing that one day

you will receive Greater Happiness,

than you've ever KNOWN."

But sometimes I still CAN'T help feeling...

SAD.

Out of the BLUE last night I received a text,

"I hate you and I will not stop til everyone knows,
what a sick lier you are."

The kids are GONE and I worry.

Ron is at WORK and I have no one to share my sadness.

And while looking at my FRIENDS' blogs this morning...

I realized I HAVEN'T found that ONE friend,

I can call TODAY, who can take me SHOPPING or

who can make me LAUGH.

So the SADNESS wasn't in the text but in having

no ONE to share it with.
 

And the TRUTH...

will set you free!

I have heard this particular
truth my entire life, but when you
experience it for yourself...

it takes on new MEANING!

Recently,

I had to write a letter.

A tough letter.

It made me CRY.

But in writing the truth,

the whole truth,

and nothing BUT the truth

it set me FREE.

So it got me thinking,

WHY I didn't do it sooner?

Triple the FUN...

On our THIRD week of

SPRING,

we got to enjoy

KEVIN, Jaime and KIDS,

GREAT weather,

and a VACATION week for Ron.

Call it a triple threat--

guaranteed us nothing but

FUN!

Here's to our week in REVIEW...

MONDAY:
Peter PIPER Pizza...and all those tickets!

With an evening at the PARK...and Hailee's amazing STYLE!!






TUESDAY:
Took us downtown on the LIGHT RAIL...


Should I be grossed out...
or is it cute in a way!?!


CHASE Field where our home team the

DIAMONDBACKS play!


and the CHILDREN's Museum...loved it!










WEDNESDAY:
Ron and Kevin spent more time fishing...no surprise!

THURSDAY:
PHOENIX zoo...date night to KONA Grill,
and a mean game of DOMINO'S!




FRIDAY:
Boys to FISH...Moms to SHOP!


FRIDAY NIGHT:
Dinner at BASS Pro SHOPS...of course!



I could not believe how FAST the time

went by,

and was sad when I had to say

GOODBYE!

(For now, anyways)

SECOND week...

Our SECOND week of

SPRING

brought us additional visitors

and our kids'

SPRING BREAK!

This one was special,

we got to meet our second

GRANDBABY...Leo Alexander!



What a BLESSING these beautiful
new babies are to our UNIQUE family...

they have so much LOVE watching over
them...and I feel privileged to be a

PART of it all.

We also SPENT a day with our little

HAILEE

at Makutu's Island.

I'm not sure if we WORE her out,

or if she WORE us out!






I just LOVE this picture of

Hailee--

It has HER personality written ALL over it!

And I call this the MIRACLE picture...

Hailee (who doesn't hold still) actually came OVER
to sit on my LAP,

for TWO whole minutes!

Okay maybe only ONE minute...

but it was a HEAVENLY minute!

FIRST week...

Our FIRST week of

SPRING

brought us our first set of visitors.

My MOM and DAD.

We started it all off,
with my dad teaching the kids and Ron
how to ROPE!
My dad and his older brother used to

RODEO back in the day!
They were quite the team rope champions!


Mom, DAD and I enjoyed a
SENIOR citizen day at the
Queen Creek Olive Mill, where
they served up sandwiches and chips,
and a nice tour of the MILL.




Then it was our BIG day to go
downtown Phoenix on the

LIGHT RAIL.

Mom and Dad enjoyed going through ASU,
home of there ALMA MATER and finding
the dorms where they USED to live!

BOY have things changed! :)

Ron's little BUDDY.


DOWNTOWN is quite the change from
our little home town of WILLARD, MO.
We "ain't" on the farm no more...



It was quite the treat to go to

CHASE field where the

ARIZONA Diamondbacks play and eat lunch on

TGI Friday's FRONT row restaurant.


OUR final day...

Saguaro Lake to FISH!



We LOVED having our company
come, and can't wait to do it
ALL again NEXT year!