Bisbee with the Pershings

 

Janey twin turns 23!!

 We got to celebrate Olivia with everyone in town! Benfit of a Christmas birthday. We strated the day with a mornign hike at Sabino Creek, which was a beautigul 4.5 mile hike. Then we went up to teh Sawmill for lunch on Mout Lemon. We headed home and had the Pershing family over for desert and games. Olivia made  Kathoot about her life and then we played Fish bowl. It was a perfect day celebrating our amazing spic of a daughter Olivia Jane. Currently she is crushing life in Atalnata she will be moving  to Sacramento soon whenre success will be awaitng her like it always does!!

Christmas Day

 Christmas Day was chill. All the kids were home! We opened stockings and the kids did their Christmas sibling exchange and we exchanged gifts. Each kid got a pair of new shoes..except Sam they cancelled the order ;( I made each kid a memory book from birth to High school graduation. It was an enormous task because I had not been keeping one up since birth. For the past several months i have been collecting photos, printing ones up and sorting. I honestly did not think I was going to finish but I was able to! Parkin made vinyl stickers with each kids name to put on the leather books (well fake leather). Honelsty is was a huge mom goal of mine so I am glad I got that one crossed off the list! I got the most beautiful water color desert picture form Sam. I have been wanting a painting of his!! All the kids pitched in to get a DNA kit for Leo, I can't wait to see what that mut is! Olivia gave me a speaker because I love my tunes!! Benjamin and I followed Bella and Sam's example of spending what we would of spent on each other to other people. 

The Howe clan came over for Christmas Linner. The dessert spread was insane...because Howes know how to party!! What a blessing to have so much family to gather with!

Christmas shenanigans

Christmas eve each person provided something for the favorite things potluck. Benjamin did bacon wrapped kielbasa (because they had no smokies, it was a delightful change), Bella made cheese sauce for pretzels that Cai Cai mailed us! Sam made jalapeno poppers, Oliva made Brie with jam, Holman made spinach dip, Parkin made asparagus, Adrian mozzarella sticks and I made pizza rolls. It was quite yummy! Each kid was asked to provide a fun game....which meant just the girls planned something! I had a gift exchange with themed candy socks with their matching candy. Adrian had us play a Kahoots that was about Christmas and about her. Olivia had us play a game called Fish bowl it involves sharieds, taboo and one word clues, and then Bella bought a bunch of scratchers tickets to play the lotto, no big winners but it was fun to dream. We ended the night with the Nativity movie and out favorite Christmas devotionals. Our matching PJs were mostly a hit. 

Holman Family Christmas Party

 Nana and Papa hosted another amazing Christmas program. We met at their house for Mexican food and merriment.  There was so many people there that Nana and Papa didn’t put tables in the living room. We all had a sturdy plates and sat around. It was wonderful.! Later we went to our house for dessert. We had probably 10 different kinds of cookies. It was magical. I think the queen of Christmas was thrilled (Olivia)! Lindsey came up with a fun singing game and then we played a musical trivia that Bella found on the Internet. It was a great night.

Holman turns 21!

 Little H-man who is not little anymore, is now 21. Kids really grow up before your eyes. Each day is long but man the years are quick!! Somethings don’t change. Like Holman’s fun personality and his unique interests and tastes. Years ago I blogged about how one of his favorite gift as a little boy was a pack of raw sausages. This year he wanted a pack of steaks to cook up. I always love to hear what he wants. In honor of his favorite foreign country we went out to eat at his favorite Thai restaurant, Tuk Tuk Thai. Nana, Papa, Grandma and his girlfriend Emma joined us for dinner. Bella and Liv mailed thoughtful gifts. We all sure love Holman. He is loyal, fun and insightful. We love our soft spoken wise cracking giant! Your future is very bright son, I love you so very much.

Babysitting the great nieces and nephews

 Benjamin was in pure heaven watching the adorable Scott and Suzie grandkids. We watched Seth and Carlie’s 3 kids and Brighlynne and Benjamin’s 2 kids. Cuteness overload. I was remembering my preschool and kindergarten days. Little people are the best. We collected chicken eggs (we had to supplement because of all the baking this week) 😅. We played on the our geodesic dome and playhouse, went for a wash walk and painted feet!!

LaLa Land Adrian turns 16!!

 My baby turned 16! Her birthday was on Thanksgiving which she was less than thrilled about. But we tried to make it special. I decorated her door with hearts and written talents. We got her (what we thought were her) favorite donuts and her and woke her up with sweet lullabies. We had Thanksgiving at the Smiths. So much yummy food and family. I made her a three tiered strawberry cake which looked like the Harry Potter cake. We sang the Dutch birthday song complete with hip hip hooray. She had a birthday party on Saturday night. She has lots of different friend groups, and they all came out to support her with gifts that really showed how much they know her….sharks themes. Because it was Thanksgiving weekend we had to hustle to get the house looking Christmas themed cause that was her preference and we did it, because we love her. Hopefully she’ll remember such a perfect weekend ( or at least the efforts for it to be) because we love her so much.!!  

Adrian crushes State!!

 Adrian returned to Swim State!! This time with even quicker seed times. She has been shredding her times all season long. She got an all time PR in Butterfly at the event! She swam the 100 butterfly, 100 Back, 100 Medley (in butterfly) and the 100 freestyle relay. Both relays PRd too! Olivia was in town for it so she was able to come and cheer her on. It was a two day event so Olivia spent the night at her old besties roommate's house (Vero and Nick). Benjamin and I spent the night at Hillary and Johns place. Hillary made us blueberry lemon scones and a breakfast casserole in the morning....the best scone I have ever had! Benjamin and I went on a walk in the morning and Hillary and I went to a Christmas market after, then we went to the state race. After the meet Benjamin and Olivia and I went to Chillis and DQ for the drive home. It was a perfect day!!

At the team awards banquet she got the award of “Being most coachable.” I love that award being humble and curious to want to improve. There were very few awards given so it was quite impressive. Way to go Adrian!!

Olivia comes for a visit!

Olivia came for a whole week to visit!! She is crushing adulthood. She has a full time job working in Georgia on a special program that lets her see various business aspects of her company Siemens. She will only be in Georgia for 6 months and that time is quickly coming to an end.While she was in Tucson we hit all the favotes, Sabino Canyon, Jason's Sonoran dogs, La Herradera, the Smith's hot tub, dog walks in the wash, Adrian's swim championships up in Phoenix, Swig and Chillis...What a week of laughter, joy, family bonding and Olivia's zany personality entertaining us all. The boys came over every night to spend time with their sis. She worked remotely and baked in between tasks. Life is always better when she is here. When we were on one of our walks Olivia got the call that her next assignment will be in Santa Barbara, California!! West coast here she come in January!

I found this little gem of Olivia's she wrote this the start of third grade. It's no wonder her writing scores have always been off the charts!

 

Back to my homeland

Our dear friend Anthony married our new friend Angie and last weekend they got sealed in the Pocatello Temple. We were happy to be invited and I was excited to see Anthony's kids, who we raised our kids with. We were literally only in Pocatello for a couple of hours. We had just enough time to stop by my grandparents old house where my cousin Kenny lives. Lucky me my cousin Richard his brother was visiting. They were generous and invited us in. I haven't seen either of them for probably 30 years (im old enough to say that now).. Kenny referenced Lindsey's culinary skills and my "homestead" he really has a great memory. In truth I don't know all of my cousins names because I didn't grow up there and we didn't visit often. Kenny and Richard are two that I actually know! My mom has a special relationship with Richard, they share a birthday and he sends her flowers every year. It is so incredibly thoughtful.

Once upon a time there was a place that never rained....

Is my family obsessed with water in the creek? Yes, but unfortunately it has been one of driest years on record. We had two seconds of rain and this water was only here for a couple of days. It was enough for new puppy Wolf to check it out. I have sorely missed the running water of years past. The creek did churn up the sand a bit enough that it exposed new glass for me! Each walk Benjamin and I take provides a handful to take home to my growing collection. I used to collect the glass in large pickle jars or vases but then I found this beauty made from recycled glass. I had to have her. Pictured is years of collection.

 

Holman gets pinned!

 Holman is a loyal blood donor (just like his Dad). I am pretty consistent but there was a time that the Red Cross kept getting my twin and I's information mixed up and I couldn't donate...It took a bit to finally sort it out. Anyways I digress Holman got a pin for all his donations, what a citizen!

Priced out of education

I graduated from the University of Arizona in the year 2000.  Tuition was $1,060 a semester. I worked at a drycleaners making $5.15 an hour. My siblings and I were first generation college graduates. Both parents took college classes but life interrupted their studies. They always instilled in us a desire to graduate. We knew to attend we had to earn scholarships and save money. The same advice was given to my own children; work hard and get scholarships. Although with our leg up we had some money set aside for our children. 

The University of Arizona is a public school designed at its inception to make higher education attainable and accessible. I have two sons who are freshmen at The University of Arizona this year. They work as life guards for the city of Tucson making $15 an hour. Tuition for one semester is over $6,800. There registration fees alone were $1400. More than my tuition, an increase of over 500%

In the last 25 years minimum wage has gone up by nearly 190%. Tuition on the other hand has gone up over 541%. My husband and I are both University of Arizona graduates our kids have been raised on red and blue and Bear Down. Each year I check to see the scholarship grid to see what merit aide and tuition will be. Each year tuition goes up and scholarship aide goes down. 

Parents if your child would like to attend the UofA next fall beware it is changing again. Right now the website says information to come. This will not be good news. Unlike the housing market there has been no crash to regulate inflated prices. The new normal is astronomical inflation. When will the steep increases end? 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.azregents.edu/sites/default/files/reports/History-tuition-fees-2010-2020.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjew_zxtPmPAxXDJUQIHTxMJ68QFnoECE8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw39wJlPyp_iKTENp2hpMOu4

27 years married!!

Benjamin has a goal to visit all 50 states before he turns 50. So as his dutiful partner I want him to accomplish his goal!! So naturally we went to the state of Michigan for his 43rd state on our 27th anniversary!! We also headed up to Canada to make it a foreign experience. We hit one of the Great Lakes, Huron. We walked the beach, ate Canadian foods like (poutine, butter tarts, and had pickle soup....I don't know if thats Canadian but man they sure had a lot of pickle products. We ate fried pickles too). Canada has a lot of national pride, flags in their yards and signs in their grocery store indicating if the product is Canadian made. They also don't put ice in sodas at fast food places, Benjamin loved that!. We went to art museums, thrift stores and nature parks. It was a relaxing weekend to celebrate "my love forever and a day"

 

Nana turns 75 years young!!

Nana turned 75 on September 2nd!! We had the best week celebrating her. On Monday we went up to camp Zion to do our annual labor on Labor day. We painted the inside of the outhouses!! Hillary made it down along with her new foreign exchange student. We shot BB guns, shot arrows and played Telastartions. Tuesday for Nana's actual birthday Lindsey and I took mom out to Millie's Pancake house for lunch then we met up with our husbands for the evening and went to the Olive Garden. Afterwards we went back to mom and dads place and ate these fancy cupcakes that our friend makes. Then on Saturday we had dinner with all my siblings and a good amount of our children. We went to Pinnacle Peak Steak House, its a cowboy restaurant and if you wear a tie the Sheriff cuts it off! There were several brave members of the family who got their tie cut off. 

We sure love this lady!! She is adored by all her family, the rock and cheerleader of our large and growing crew. Mom always says she wakes up and tells herself that she is 60...What a great way to stay young!!