21 years.... September 2019

I have officially been married longer than I have been single.   This year for our anniversary we went up to Sedona to do some hiking. We went on three hikes. They were all gorgeous. Two were to caves and one was to a river that we could cliff jump into. The river was freezing which was a good thing because the hike was so hot. We stayed at Benjamin's co-worker's guest house, Richard and Brenda in Sedona. They were so thoughtful, they left treats, Martenills, and a lovely happy anniversary sign.

This is a picture of our engagement photo and 21 years later..

The first bird leaves the nest.....August 23rd 2019

How did 18 years go so fast... Just dropped our oldest off at her dorm. It brought me right back to her first day of kindergarten. Bella had a friend who was in a different neighborhood so she was supposed to go to a different school but her mom registered her to go to Bella's school. She knew if her daughter had one true friend that her shy daughter would have a good experience. Last night Bella got a text from someone she met at the U of A orientation a couple of months ago, asking her to meet him at the science department mixer, knowing that if he had one friend he would have fun. Walking into the dorm today a fellow freshman said hey are you looking for new friends too?! My outgoing, smart, friendly and good looking daughter (she's like my brunet twin) will be just fine.

At Benjamin's UofA graduation 15 years ago.

The siblings take in one more swim while their sister still lives at home..

One more sunset on the balcony while she lives at home...get the idea :)

luckily she is only 20 minutes away!

Ohhhhh Mexicooooo

Sharon and Scot Bell invited us to go with them to their vacation property in Mexico....we were so excited to go!! We have never traveled to Mexico beyond Nogales or on a pit stop from a cruise ship. The Bells's place is amazing. It is oceanfront property. Close to an estuary perfect for jet skis. The Bells also brought down the quads and we drove those around. We buggie boarded, hunted for shells and dove off sound cliffs into rolling hills of sand. It was so lovely and relaxing. The Bells also hosted Sharon's brothers family, and their daughter Brooke and her kids were there too. This place is BIG. There were plenty of kids to entertain our kids and plenty of beds. We rotated kitchen and cooking duties and even made it into to town for authentic food. We were in heaven! The Bells are basically who Benjamin and I would like to grow up to become, friendly, kind, the belief that there is always room for one more, optimistic and treats others like family... It was a great weekend. We didn't run into any problems going south of the boarder so we gotta go again!

"Oh, Mexico
It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
The moon's so bright like to light up the night
Make everything all right"

First Day of School August 2019

First day of school pictures. August 1st 2019 How did the summer go by so fast?!

                                                                 Parkin 7th grade

Holman Freshman year

Olivia Junior year

Adrianna 4th grade

Bella will be a freshman in a couple of weeks... Only 4 kids at school right now, the last time that happened was 6 years ago. Time flies!

The never ending project actually ended!

Last year I found a female carpenter in Tucson on Facebook. She had several furniture pieces that she had redone and they were beautiful. I explained what I was looking for and she quoted me $500 cheaper than what I had found online. I was so excited I hired her and sent her a deposit. Months went by...my name was still on the bottom of the projects list. Finally, 6 months and I had had it. I contacted her and had her send me the deposit back. I was so frustrated with the wasted time. I started looking at furniture that I could redo and change to look like what I wanted. I bought an entertainment center on Craigslist for $300. My thought was I would save a lot of money and possibly find a new hobby I enjoy....that did not happen. It was the worst. Sanding proved to be so terrible I tried many different methods all were arduous and time-consuming. Probably more than me figuring out that I didn't want to be a carpenter was the major inconvenience this was to Benjamin. He helped with sanding, painting and constructing the doors so that we could close off the TV... the project ate up much of his free time. When possible hire a dog groomer. When possible hire a mechanic to change your oil. When possible buy finished furniture. NEVER. AGAIN.

Well done Benjamin. It seems your reservoir of talents runs very deep. As Meatloaf once sang, "Oh I would do anything for love, Oh I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. No, I won't do that." Thank you, Benjamin, for doing that. Benjamin saved us $1300 if you don't count time...but I have learned one should always count time. Thanks babe!

Swim team season wrap up

Another great swim season wrapped up. Our community pool is straight out of the "Sand Lot" movie. The movie is based on the era of the 60's when neighborhoods would gather to play baseball and swim at the community pool. Our pool stays open till 9 pm, families come and make it an evening. People from all over the east side drive in to be a part of this team 1) it is the most affordable private pool 2) the people are so friendly. The snack bar has a tab..unless you are at a country club tabs don't exist anymore 3) Nothing about this pool is trying to make a profit. The fees are low just to cover bills and salaries and the snack bar is the cheapest in the city ( I price the snack bar items, my motto is "keep it low keep it a family show"). We love this place. Bella and Olivia's first job was here. Olivia still works as a coach and guard. It was a crazy busy summer. All the kids missed several weeks of practice and competition because of camps and family vacations but they still improved times, got good exercise and had fun.

For championships, the kids drew names and picked a secret swimmer to do kind things for. I made these drawstring bags with the team logo and the swimmer's name. They were adorable!! They got some cute things from their secret swimmer too. It's a fun bonding activity that I always put off until the night before..

Our team one the title of ous swim league!! Everyone was thrilled! All the kids qualified for at least on stroke in the finals. They crushed their relays which placed as well. Parkin got 1st place in butterfly! He was a foot shorter than everyone when they lined up but finished a full body length ahead ...it wasn't even close! Both Parkin and Holman got high point runner up for the age group on the team. Liv, unfortunately, twisted her ankle three weeks ago. It was still bothering her but her coaching skills were recognized buy a whole lot of gifts from grateful parents. Summe is sadly fastly coming to a close.

New baby animals at the Yellow Barn

The Holman's do foster cat care for a local animal group since they were going out of town they needed someone to care for their kitten. My kids were thrilled to volunteer. We had a kitten named Fish who loved the outdoors and one night never made it back home...he went on a big adventure... Penny is the cutest who loves to snuggle and play in Anna's dollhouse.

  Benjamin used to be highly allergic to cats but the last two that have been in our home don't seem to bother him. Cats really are incredible with how they are litter trained.

Anaa put her in here once and now she enjoys coming in on her own.

The mare we are boarding had her foal!! She is a sweet scrawny thing that seems to be adjusting really well. Her mother used to be quite skittish and now she seems braver and more assure since having her baby.