A visit from my grandparents

My grandparents came in to town this weekend to see our family. It was nice to see them & the kids enjoyed their company, except Alexa..but she's a different child and thats a story for another day.:)

We took them to Kyla's soccer game (Which by the way her team won AGAIN 8-2, they are undefeated so far;but who's keeping track anyway) After the game we took them to our marvelous swapmeet (tylers favorite place in the world!) and ofcoarse, they sold nothing but junk..but my kids loved it all and bought up all their junk! The swapmeet is our 'saturday after soccer' ritual, incase your wondering and the kids save all week to go. LOL.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Prescott Town Square & my grandpa took us to the Sharlott Hall Museum. Now, I have to be honest and say that I would have never chosen to go to a historical museum teaching about Prescott's early days however, this is something my grandpa really enjoys. Needless to say, I went & actually enjoyed it. It was sorta cool learning about my towns history and it explains why so many people from other towns/states flock to our town square every day. Makes me wonder why I have lived here for 3 1/2 years and I have never even cared to learn more about the history of where I live, being it is such a historic town.

I only was able to snap one picture of us because it was such a short, busy trip and the first day my grandma was sick. But this picture is taken after we walked FOREVER so we are less then energetic. It was a good visit!

Pink Concert

The pink concert was awesome! She's an amazing performer & I'm glad I went. I went with my friend Sam & SIL Whitney...it was a blast to get out away from the kids and hangout, it was a great girls night out! We might have been some of the rowdiest bunch of girls around that night, well atleast we were in the Piano Bar prior to the concert. Gotta love those Long Island Ice Tea's..Mmm. Poor Sam got dragged up on the stage at the first bar TWICE...LOL. (Even doing the Hokey Pokey..LOL) And just like any typical ending to a drinking night, we ended our night on a wild goose chase to find a Taco Bell..LOL. It was great!

These are for you mom...as I promised I would do, I am posting the pics of our new car. Not bad for being paid for. Also, we just had it serviced at our mechanic and he said everything is in perfect condition. YIPEE!!! I just LOVE IT!

Thankful Thursday

This week I am so thankful for the sale & purchase of our old & new vehicles. So since the re-modification of our loan, we decided that we wanted to tighten up the rest of our budget and get rid of all our payments so we could be left with only a mortgage. The decision was a bit hard and somewhat emotional when we decided to sell our truck, but it was also a decision we knew would benefit our family & our budget more in the long run.

Within 24 hours of listing our truck, we already had a cash buyer. Neither one of us even thought it would sell...but HOORAY it did. We found a Yukon XL (AKA Suburban) and I just LOVE it!! The best part...it's PAID FOR!! We were very lucky because it's really nice and in excellent condition. It's weird being in a suburban again, but I have had 2 in the past & I just feel they are more 'My Style' then a big diesel truck. (Not to mention gas cars are SOOOOOO much quieter)

Ofcorse, we had to get the approval from the kids (especially tyler) and they all love it now & have given it a thumbs up since we have gotten it detailed and nice and pretty. I would have taken a picture but my battery is dead...save that for later.

I'm so thankful that things worked out for us the way they did. Many lessons have been learned & we will no longer be foolish & wasteful with our money. If saving money & not always getting what you may "want" but getting or doing what you "need" makes us feel this good, then this is definetly what we will be doing from now on!

And soccer season officially begins

Today was the first soccer game of the season and it started with a bang! You all know how much of a soccer family we are, kyla eats, sleeps and breathes soccer! She was so excited for her first game today, she and her team did incredible. They won 8-0 and kyla scored 2 of the goals.

At first I didn't care for her coach very much, but he has lightened up on kyla and isn't the screamin coach I thought he would be. Ty really likes him and thinks he is doing what he should be doing with the kids.

Even with elbows being thrown in the face to our players (from the other team) and a couple of the girls from the other team tripping our girls...our girls still managed to keep the ball on the opposing side of the field through out the 1.25 hr game (They play longer as there division gets higher). Our poor goalie didn't even get a chance to see a soccer ball once..LOL. We had to keep waking her up! lol.



Kyla's the one right in front of the ball in blue (she got to kick off because she got elbowed in the face)



This was the start of the game~ coin toss for kickoff


She's ready to play...


cant seem to rotate this picture but this was right before the game

Only 10 days left!!!

I'm so excited to be going to the PINK concert in 10 days!!! Even more so because it's an ALL GIRLS night out...YIPEE! I still can't beleive I will get the ENTIRE day/night/overnight to myself. Now, is it possible that I can drop my 6 pounds before then?? Shucks!

Thankful Thursday

I'm going to make this weeks Thankful Thursday very simple and straight to the point. I am so Thankful and extremely blessed for the health of my husband, my children and the rest of my entire family.

Many of you may remember that months ago I posted about my baby cousin's husband who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident the day before thanksgiving 2008. Well she just sent me a picture of him this weekend & I was barely able to look at it without crying. Though he looks phenominal from previous pictures & his progress has been remarkable, He is still not awake. Many Dr's have told her he is in vegatative state, but she is very hopeful and anxious for him to wake up. I hope and pray he does. As we are rapidly approaching the 1 yr mark of his accident, I pray for her that she will have the strength to keep going for him & keep fighting for his best interest.

Our Camping Trip to the Pines

The Camping trip was a blast. We went up to a great campsite in the pines of Flagstaff near Lake Mary. The plan was to take the boat so we could go boating at the lake and let the kids tube and such, but due to the monsoon weather and rain our pland for boating died off. We went to the lake the second day but the rain spoiled our fun. The kids had so much fun & there was always something for them to do. Tyler even ran into a friend of his from his class, turns out his parents were camping at the same spot. :) I have captured many pictures but will just upload half. We managed to stay there for 3 nights, but by the 3rd night I was very excited I was going home the next day :) The kids were sad to leave and are still sad to be home...to tell you the truth, I am a bit sad too. It was a great time.

Camping Pictures Continued...

Gotta love the bunny ears..little booger!


Again....she's the family clown!


Alexa and Whitney


Paigers


Billy, Tyler and Annalese playing ball

Billy went and found a stick in the woods & made Tyler a baseball bat...it was a pretty cool bat! Tyler and the kids loved it.


What a cool bat! He's thrilled :)

Annalese...Say CHEESE!!


Alexa doing 1 of her 2 favorite things, Drinking & Eating!


Kyla...

This was the back view from our campsite...it was such a beautiful place with a great backdrop.



Bo running around...he HATED wearing a leash 24/7

Tyler hitting his ball with his homemade bat :)



Ready for his rest


Paige holding 'Beans' the Pug. He was held probably 21 hours out of the day..EVERYDAY. :)

Talk about a week from hell!

One thing is for sure, this week has tested me in many areas from the power of my inner strength down to my ability to try to stay positive in a truly negative situation. As my father in law put it into pure perfection: "We beleive in the law of attraction, we practice the laws of attraction; now this is our test to make sure we react the way we are supposed to and to the way we have learned how to".

One of the biggest things that happened this week, was the theft of Ty & Bill's Trailer. Their trailer was stolen from their jobsite in Flagstaff and it contained all of their tools...we are talking about roughly $9-$10,000 of things, including the trailer. The worst part, it wasn't insured yet. It was literally days away from being insured.

I just don't get it! Ty is the kind of person who has found wallets (I'm talking several wallets he has found in the past) and he is the guy who will drive to the address on the ID and return it, accept no honor or gratitude for his deed because he knew it was the right thing to do. He is the most honest guy you could ever know, even more so, so is Bill and Billy. As I was looking back over all the thefts that have happened to us, (this is the 4th trailer we have had stolen and the 2nd time Ty has been completely wiped out) I wonder why this always happens to him, being the fact according to the law of attraction he shouldn't deserve this.

As Bill said, we are just supposed to forgive the person who did this. Even as hard as it is to forgive a person who would steal from our family, and even though I was fully supportive of Ty when he said if he found them he would shoot them (You people know my Hubby)I am going to try to forgive after I say that I hope they cut one of their fingers off with one of the saws. No Joke!

Tomarrow we are leaving to go camping...I can't wait! The kids are so excited they can hardly stand it. We are taking the boat and even the dog...he has a new doggie life jacket to float in the water. hehehe

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend and be safe. We love you All :)

Trading Tuesday

Oh Lordy...I found this recipe just recently and made it for our family on Sunday since it was rainy and dreary outside and this was a PLEASER to everyone. My kids love any sweets, since they barely get any, and let me tell you.... I felt so good making this for them because it wasn't full of all the hard core sugars you find in most really rich recipes. (Not saying it's not fattening people..its loaded with fat :)) I hope you will try it and like it as much as we did.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

~1 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened

~1/2 cup vegatable oil

~1 box yellow cake mix

~1 (3oz) box instant vanilla pudding

~4 eggs, beaten

~2 teaspoons vanilla extract

~2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

~powdered sugar optional (May be optional, but REALLLY good)

Pre heat oven to 325. Lightly spray bundt pan or tube pan with Pam and dust with flour

Combine cream cheese and oil in medium bowl; beat with mixer on high until smooth and creamy. Add Cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until blended. Fold in blueberries (batter will be very thick) spoon batter into prepared pan

Bake 60 minutes or until toothpick test shows clean. Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar prior to serving.

YUMMY breakfast or brunch meal too. (I have such a sweet tooth here...LOL)