Pool makeover

A few years back a huge tree limb fell in the pool and tore a few holes in the liner.  Josh patched the holes and we went on our merry way.  Then Josh went to Afganistan, I didn't open the pool that year, and then this spring when the pool was opened, we discovered water under the liner and pulling the liner down so there were gaps in the edge of the pool and the liner.

We decided to just replace the entire liner.  Josh tore all the plastic and padding off and drilled a hole from the top of the pool (through the concrete and into the side of the pool, to drain the water in the future, if water ever got under the liner again.  It was a process.  Removing and cleaning and drilling and so on and so forth.  The day the liner was put in, Josh and about 7 buddies (one of which used to own a pool business) worked all day putting the liner on and then we had water delivered in to fill it immediately.  It's so blue and pretty... and inviting, but still cold....

Kindergarten Graduation

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Collin graduated kindergarten this year, being my youngest, it was bitter sweet.  In his school, kindergarten is only 1/2 day, so most days he was home with me by 12:30, and to know that he will be in school all day from now on, is both exhilarating and saddening.  But not to him, he says, "I'll always be your baby, mama, don't worry"

Laynie Dog

This year in May, our sweet dog Laynie passed away.  She was 12 years old, we got her while I was pregnant with Clayton in NC, she was an exceptional calm, loving dog.  When she was a puppy, still in NC, I would come home from work to find yarn through out the yard, through the doggie door and all over the house and usually sitting in front of the TV was a chewed stick from outside, I could never get too angry with her, she'd just look at me as if to say, "Did you see the beautiful things I did with your yarn mom?  and do you want a bite of this yummy stick...?"  

 

We buried her in the country on my brother in law's land, we had a prayer and the boys all cried and helped cover her.  We had made an appointment to put her down the same day she passed away, but she died at home surrounded by her family, because that was what she was to us, family

 

Baseball Madness

Baseball is one of my favorite sports, I grew up with my sister playing softball and my dad coaching the team, we traveled all over most Saturday's and I would cheer on the team.  I played softball during my teens with my church, but for the most part I'm too uncoordinated to bother with all that nonsense...

I wanted to instill that same love of baseball WITHOUT the coordination issues... I am trying my darnest to do that.  Step one; marry an athletic man, check.  Step two;  have boys, check.  Step three;  make enough money to sign 3 children into a not cheap sport, check;  Step four; get all 3 previously mentioned boys to practices and games, trying... really hard

Clay is in the major's, he's team is the Met's and he is really hitting well this season.

Cregan and Collin are on the Dodgers, Cregan has pitched a couple of games and Cregan is the youngest on the team and take his 'cuteness factor' and runs with it.... he has the coaches and the parents wrapped around his little finger.... we try to reign him in a bit, mostly by not letting him be the catcher, in which he doesn't actually catch the ball, but draws in the dirt and looks expectedly at the umpire to get the ball for him....

It was Sunday

It was a normal Sunday, we got up later since church doesn't start until 1pm and ate breakfast, Josh mentioned to me he wanted to go to the storage unit and that he'd take Clay and Cregan.  So Collin and I lay around, I napped and he played on the iPad, then Josh called and said, that he'd gotten into a car accident.  Ofcourse my stomach hit the floor, I felt immediately sickened and light headed  (two of my sisters have been killed in separate car accidents, so I'm overly dramatic but for good reason). 

Josh assured me everyone was fine, but the van was totaled and that he would be home later.  After what seemed like the entire day, Josh and the boys arrived home.  Poor Clay had a serious case of seatbelt burn on his neck and Cregan seemed alright.  Josh ever the non-complainer said he was fine.

Next day, Cregan was complaining his legs hurt, which he never complains about anything hurting and Clay said he's neck hurt, so off to Children's we go, x-ray and review and got the all OK, and later Josh went to the ER and found out that Mr. Stellar in fact had fractured his wrists.....

And now we had the fun task of dealing with insurance companies and rental companies and medical bills and buying a new van after having just paid off that one....

All are fine now, we have a new van, no lasting effects from the wreck and although medical bills are still coming in, the insurance should be taking care of all that....   Just goes to show you should just REST on the Sabbath! 

All Squishy

Big news for the family in November was the birth of baby Samantha, she waited until after Thanksgiving to be born, but when she made her appearance she was just beautiful, all squishy and soft and smelled oh so yummy like newborns do.

I love little babies, I love the way their little hands grasp your fingers, how they can't quite open their eyes because it's just too darn bright out in the non placenta world.  

And Baby Sammie is just GORGEOUS!  Of course look at her mom and dad... seriously!

But those cheeks!  Those big huge checks, just want to kiss um!!

LOVE MY NIECE!!

Josh the toolman

So the other day, Josh decided to teach the boys about tools.  He pulled out all these tools and started going over the names of the tools.  He went over the hammer, screwdrivers, etc and gets to the leveler.  He talks to the kids telling them, if you don't have the leveler everything is cock-eyed.  He then goes on to tell them, "You know I had a friend that lost the skin around his eye and the doctor had to take some skin from his penis and place it on his eye to help him.... Ever since then he was a little cock eyed..."  Oh geez, I thought, what am I going to do with this man!  A little while later, he's going over more tools and the uses and he gets to a tool that I didn't know what it was, he asks the kids what's the name of this (they don't know), he then says, "well you know when a woman and a woman like eachother and they are called dykes....well that's the name of this tool"

WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO DO WITH THIS MAN!!

Cregan's Birthday

This year for Cregan's birthday, I had an intimate party at the bowling alley.  I had learned from Collin's Harry Potter party, that things can and often do get expensive fast!  So bowling alley it was, and Spongebob was the theme.  

Cregan got a BB gun and aquarium from mom and dad, and Lego's from his brothers and Amber and Crystal.  He had a blast and ate pizza and had cupcakes with his friends.

I can hardly believe how much he's grown over the past year, he's blossoming into such a big guy, I love and adore that big guy too...
Below is writing from Cregan and it exemplifies why I love this kid so darn much!

Las Vegas

Awhile back Josh and I decided we needed to go on a trip just the two of us.  We haven't been on a trip longer than a day or two since the kids were born and Clay is 11 this year.  I was so excited when he mentioned it and ran with the idea.  We decided to go to Las Vegas for a week.  I really wanted to stay somewhere nice, plus I found a really good deal on a ticket plus room combo to stay at Trump Towers and it was a suite facing the strip to boot.  It was GORGEOUS! I mean, posh on crack gorgeous!  Full kitchen and living room and dining room plus 2 full bathrooms and one of them was ofcourse huge with a TV within the mirror!  Part of the mirror, not lying, don't know why you'd need one in there, but I turned it on the 1st day and watched the news while getting ready and the bedroom, awww, just didn't want to come home and sleep on my lumpy bed after sleeping on a cloud for the last few days....  But really we didn't spend much time at Trump Towers.  We walked all around the strip several times, So much to see and ofcourse so much to do...

The 1st night there we took a shuttle from Trump to Caesar's Palace and walked around, there's basically a mall inside the place and so we walked around there and over and around looking at all the lights, and people.  The next day we walked around again, all over the place and in the afternoon we went to Fremont St which is basically the old strip.  It was really neat too, but you had to take a taxi to it, it was too far away.  There we went to a murder mystery/comedy that had Josh and I in stitches.

There were only 40 people there and dinner was served as well and during the dinner the people in the audience died/murdered...  So you didn't know if you were sitting next to a cast member or an audience member, imagine interactive Clue.  After that we got tickets to a comedy show and he was hilarious too.  He claimed to be a telepathic comedian and dang if he didn't have Josh and I convinced that he just might have been by the end of the show.


The next day we walked the entire strip down all the way and back and that was quite a ways, we did a lot of walking this week that's for sure.  That night we went to the Stratosphere and went up the tower to see the overlook all over Las Vegas for miles and miles and miles.  Gorgeous...

















The next day was our last so we went the other direction from the strip and found this fun casino called Circus Circus and in it there was a large arcade area (imagine if you are at the circus x 20) and we thought it would be fun to take all these random photos of us "playing" arcade games and send them to the boys telling them we were having so much fun without them.... they were so jealous!  haha, and then I got a water massage, and then back to the room, rested and then to the free shows,















 We saw Treasure Island boat show where the 2 boats shot to eachother and there's fireworks and then over to the Mirage to see the volcano erupt and then finally the Bellagio to see the water dance to music (my favorite). 

Ofcourse we gambled too.  I just gave money to the slot machines... Josh actually knew what he was doing and made some money, then lost some money, then made some money, then spent some money, then lost and you see a pattern here... but we had so much fun... now it's back to reality and to children and responsiblities...and apparently back to my lumpy bed...

Home Finally

We waited and waited and finally Josh is home and this time I know he won't be going away again.  It was a bitter sweet pill to swallow but once I truely thought and prayed about it, I realized it was for the best.  After many, many years of Army service, Josh has decided to get out the military.  It felt so good, so very good that I have my husband home and now it's for good!