Two Parties in ONE

Two parties were held in ONE this last Sunday.
PARTY #1:

Baby Shower--Tom and Britni

My stepdaughter

BRITNI

is having baby number 3!

Recently when Britni and I were at a football game...
 I started to introduce her to a friend of mine.
I couldn't think of the word "stepdaughter",
so I clumsily said "daughter".
She didn't flinch.
I'm so glad she feels that I can care and love her as if she is one of my own daughters...
because I do! 

 I'm grateful that we could celebrate this
GREAT time
in their life with a party!
 I asked Chelsea to be in charge of the games!

They did not disappoint!

Can you guess who won this game?
Since Chelsea spent most of the time laughing her head off...
you can pretty much guess it wasn't her!
I didn't participate,
Chris was in bed,
but everyone else is up for grabs.

PARTY #2

Katie's 13th Birthday Party

We began celebrating Katie's birthday the day before...
with a trip to the lake with
her friends!

I laugh when I see pictures of my family and friends in

UTAH

and see them with snow...

and we are off to the lake enjoying the warm weather!

Ummmm...yep I think I will stay here for now!

And enjoy these two special girls.

 (Cafe Rio Shredded Pork Salad--Cilantro Lime Rice--All the fixings!)

(Leo taking a turn at the Pinata!)

(Katie is going to bust it wide open!)

I'm really grateful to have another teenager in the house.
Sounds crazy but I've always
thought I was a better mom to teenagers than I ever was when they were younger.
Yes...I get stressed.
Because raising children is not easy.
But when you have a beautiful 13 year old daughter named
Katie Lynn
it makes it all worth it!

Whether I am your
MOM,
STEPMOM,
GRANDMA,
OR MOTHER-IN-LAW,
it makes no difference...
I love you all,
to the moon and back!

Vacation of a lifetime

We are soooooooo

close to our 
family 
vacation
 of a lifetime!

We are close enough that I can look at the

 weather forecast!

You know you are close when you can actually see what weather you are going to enjoy...
and what you will need to wear!

I just received an email from our hotel!

Reminding me to book transportation from the airport to the hotel!

Yikes...better start taking these trip plans seriously!

So...
I decided to start looking at some fun things we will see and do while we are away!

How about

 SITTING POOLSIDE?

 Yes please!

 VISITING THE MAYAN RUINS?

Yes, Please!

 SNORKELING IN CLEAR BLUE WATER?
Yes, Please!

RELAX ON WHITE SANDY BEACHES?
Yes, please!

SPEND TIME WITH MY AMAZING FAMILY?
Yes, Please!

Cancun awaits us...
and we can hardly wait!

Home Sweet Home

In an effort to

EAT WELL, MOVE WELL and THINK WELL

more often in my life...

I've decided to write down once a week "things" in my life that I am grateful for.

I say "things" loosely because it won't always be a tangible item.

This week I'm choosing our

HOME.

 Every other week I have wonderful ladies who come to clean our home.

I look forward to it so much that I get giddy with excitement days before they are coming.

The end result leaves me feeling happy,

productive,

spiritual,

grateful,

loving,

generous and kind.

After they left our house I grabbed my camera to capture the beauty of our HOME.

Now I'm no interior designer...

I have no special talents with decorating...

and I don't spend a fortune filling its spaces...

but I have a love for

keeping it

CLEAN and ORGANIZED.

And well...it just fits me and my tastes and that's what matters.

(My hubby helps me a lot too!)

So I thought I would give a GRAND tour of it to remember why I am grateful for our HOME!

 I ended up taking pictures of every room in our house...

except the bathrooms.

(Although I am very grateful for bathrooms!)

I've always loved the saying by Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz...

"There's no place like home!"

Yes Dorothy there truly is no place like home!

My Life Today

I love how a day takes shape and form...

and can change on a dime.

For instance, I thought I had a "free" day to get plenty of work done.

That is until I remembered I had to take Jacob to Scottsdale for his weekly counseling appointment.

I'm so proud of him and his HARD work to earn

BEHAVIOR BUCKS!

I dropped him off at school around noon thinking...

now I will get that work done!

After unlocking my door and taking a quick potty break...

 I get a phone call from the school.

"We forgot to mention that 4th grade is on a field trip. Can you come pick up your son?"

Oops...forgot about the field trip.

Jacob just scored a free day at home.

I did manage to get work done before picking Chris up from his after school class.

Which leads me to my next adventure.

Katie's Junior High Volleyball game.

She may be the "smallest" player on the team but you wouldn't know it when she steps onto the court!

This girl has some serious volleyball skills and I'm so proud of how hard she has worked this season.

Just as I arrive to watch the game we find out their "head" coach had just gotten word that their was a death in the family

and wouldn't be able to coach.

So I volunteered!

Here was my chance to give these girls a little instruction and a whole lot of encouragement!

 Despite their loss...

these girls gave it there best and I was so proud to be coaching them and cheering them on.

I've never coached before but I found it kind of FUN!

Ummm...I don't think I need to ADD anything else to my plate but we shall see!

Usually I have to miss ZUMBA on game days but tonight was a 

2-hour ZUMBA event!

NEON DANCE PARTY!

Who does 2 hours of ZUMBA?

These amazing ladies!

I literally get giddy with excitement when I get to go to ZUMBA and tonight was no exception.

 ZUMBA just makes me happier!

I really love how one simple day can change so quickly...

and that I can have so much FUN

doing it all.

Too busy for LIFE

Have you ever felt too busy for

LIFE?

Well I'm feeling that way ever since my kids went back to school.

Some nights we have three, four, five activities...

and I'm still wondering how to accomplish them all and be in three places at once.

I know I'm not alone.

It means making sacrifices.

Like my ZUMBA classes, blog time, study time and QUIET time.

I wouldn't have it any other way...

so I'm trying to be patient when I don't get to blog as much as I want, or Zumba as much as I want, or have the 

QUIET time I need.

I am much later in getting these pictures posted from our

FAMILY CAMPING TRIP

and since this blog is also turning into my own personal 

FAMILY HISTORY

I don't want to not share them.

So here I go:

Thank goodness the boys decided to cover our kitchen with tarps...

it saved us the second day

when it rained off and on.

 The kids LOVED being outside and the freedom to 

get dirty and wet.

Love Chelsea's face in this one!

 What a teenage boy likes to do!

 What a Redneck likes to do!

 I love how ALL the boys in the family look up to Cameron and allow him to teach them!

 Thank you kids for brushing your teeth!

 I love these pictures of Katie...

for those who know her as shy and quiet,

this proves otherwise!

This is how our family knows her!

Silly and fun!

 Always the cheerleader!

Time for fishin!

This cartoon is perfect for this fishing experience:

 But sometimes the best part of camping...

is doing the

UNPLANNED things

like sitting around the campfire talking,

 spending time learning and growing together,

 receiving hugs from the grandkids,

 playing horses PATUT while it rains,

  teaching the kids how to play

BOCCE BALL,

and spending time in the beautiful country

GOD

so lovingly created for all of us!

 

I especially love how we are already planning our next one!