Disneyworld 2009 Trip

Okay, so I like seriously forgot that this Blogspot thingy puts the pictures in backwards order, sheesh, I hate that. Anyway, these are just some of the 1000s of pictures we took in Disneyworld, there are waaaayyy to many for me to post. But if you're any relation to me, I'm sure you'll see them at sometime, on my computer, of course.

But Disneyworld was a great time, had by all. It was Darian's official Birthday trip, she got a button that said, "It's My Birthday," and got some free stuff and people all throughout would say Happy Birthday to her, workers and tourists alike, nice huh?? Anyway, if you ever get a chance to go and visit Mickey and Minnie in Florida, I highly recommend it. We had a great time, just wish we would have had more time. But we had to get back to reality, to get ready for back to school, bummer. Maybe next time we'll do a cruise!!!

Disneyworld 2009

Well, we went on our Disney World vacation, but I have to go through all the pictures before I can post. So, I'll get back to this at a later time.

First Day of School 2009

Here they are, their first day of school 2009-2010. I now have a Junior, a Freshman and a 5th grader; gosh, I remember when I was a fifth grader and I remember how "responsible" I felt, even though I probably REALLY wasn't. But my little one seems so "young and naive." He's a momma's boy (which at times, I love, and others, I feel a little guilty about, because I feel like I've babied him too much.) Oh well, he's probably my last, so why not, right? I say my last, because my body says "no more," but Alan still has hope, so I guess we'll see. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, I get off on these tangents sometimes . . . . . .

The kids going back to school is bittersweet, of course. I love them being home, but a part of me is like "heck yeah!" I get my days back for me!!" Back to the schedules of school, church and lessons.

OD was a bit nervous going to school, because this year he is changing classes, he doesn't have a homeroom like years prior. He's a big boy now. I forgot to ask where they eat their lunches, hmmm, I'll have to ask later. But he has a whole new place they have to line up and go in with their Advisory Teacher. When I picked him up (which I now pick him up 45 minutes later than the other two,) I asked how his first day as a fifth grader went. He said, "it was okay, I found my classes, but I'm still confused of where I'm supposed to go for P.E." (I'm paraphrasing here, so bear with me on my language, or rather, OD's.) Anyway, I told him it would just take time to get into the routine of knowing where his classes were.

Joshie had his first day of high school. He tells Darian, "your friends act like I'm not even there!" I said, "well, were you being annoying? Maybe they were ignoring you because you were being an annoying little brother." He said, "no, I wasn't even talking at all, they just ignored me." I said, "well, just give them some time, they just don't know you, and when they do, they'll love you." How can you not love Joshie and his silly sense of humor, right? He's so darned smart, Alan and I just have to make sure we're on top of this boy, to make sure he's getting things done. We have faith and we know how smart Joshie is, he can do really, really well, when he wants to. He's just lazy, and we need to keep him out of that laziness funk.

Darian is now starting her Junior year, poor, poor girl. I worry about my girl sometimes. She hasn't done so well in school and I know it's hard for her, but she also needs to put forth more effort. I told her if she didn't pass all of her classes this year, she probably wasn't going to graduate with her class. I wasn't telling her to make her feel bad, but it's a fact, and I think she needs to know the gravity of the situation. This is the last ditch effort to get things on track. I'd hate to see her not graduate on time and with her class, but, well, I don't know. I guess it's not the end of the world, it's not like my daughter is sick with a major illness or anything. I love my daughter and want the best for her and want her to be happy and want her to graduate, don't get me wrong, but in the grand scheme of things, of life and death and God and everything, is it REALLY the end of the world if she doesn't? No. I would still love her and help her in whatever she wanted to do. Not every kid is a school kid, not every kid loves school and does well in it. That's just not Darian.

Anyway, here's to a good and hopefully successful school year!!!

Bummer!!

Well today Joshie was supposed to have started his drum lessons. We had an appointment with this guy at 3:00 o'clock, we drive all the way over to Chandler, by Cornerstone, and he's not even home. Ugh, I hate it when that happens. I left a note on his door, and left a message on his phone, for him to call me to reschedule. We'll see what happens. Joshie and I were both bummed out, he was excited to start.
Anyway, he has a book that he's been looking at, trying to read the notes, so hopefully, he can get a bit of a head start in that area.

The Terrorist

Okay, we have a Terrorist in our midst, I'm not even joking. Ha ha, yes I am. The Terrorist just happens to look like a puffy, cute as button, little white dog. Yes, it's little Petey, a.k.a. Pee-Wee, that's my "pet" name for him, pun intended, of course.
He is a Terrorist, because he has dug holes in our yard, dug up flowers, eaten my brand new (with the biggest and most beautiful flowers), Hibiscus plant that my honey bought me. Alan had just planted it in one of the flower pots near the doggie door, so of course, it's the first thing Petey sees when he goes out the door, right? I was out the next morning feeding the dogs and looked over at the Hibiscus plant and thought, "gosh, I wonder why Alan pruned this plant down so much? " Because I had seen Alan that afternoon with the clippers, clipping other plants, so I just assumed he had done it to the new Hibiscus plant too. I was already getting mad at Alan, because the plant looked ugly, it was waaay smaller than earlier, and just looked puny. But as I walked closer to the plant, I noticed that some of the branches were broken and there were leaves in the pot itself that looked really mangled. So of course, then, it hit me. Ugh!! I could have spanked Petey, but he was no where to be found.

So later when Alan got home, I told him what happened. I told him he should spray the plant with some stuff we have that repels the dogs, so they won't want to chew on the plants. So he grabs the spray and goes outside and comes right back in with this look on his face. I said, "what's wrong?" He said, "there's nothing left to spray." I went outside, and the whole plant, roots and all, was completely ripped out of the pot and was laying on the ground a little ways away, leaves all over the ground. My poor, poor plant. It was so beautiful, I wish I had a picture of it for you all to see. The leaves were so green, the flowers were BIG and really yellow, it was really, really full, it was just a gorgeous plant. But alas, my Pee-wee has ruined it.

So yesterday, Alan got home from work and the kids had been home all day (since I was in LA with Dad and Roy), and when he got home, he noticed the dogs were in the house, unattended. Boys were in the basement playing video games, Darian was in the study room, on the computer. I think Jack was with Darian, but the other two dogs had free range of my house, so who knows what they had been up to. But anyway, Alan's looking outside, way out in the back (if you look down the patio where the BBQ grill is, the grass that's out there), he said he saw Petey with his head all the way in a bag. As he got closer he noticed that he had gotten a bag of Lucky Charms (actually it's the cereal LIKE Lucky Charms, but the ones that come in the big bag, they're cheaper, you know.) Anyway, he has his head completely in this bag of Lucky Charms and is eating and eating and eating. Alan yells his name and he runs away, as fast as an arrow--VROOOOMMMM and hides, oooooooh, he knew he was in trouble. But he must have carried it out the doggie door and went out there in the yard, AND THEN opened it, because the clip that was on it, was out there as well. If he was a little kid (what am I saying? He IS a little kid right?) Anyway, he'd probably be trying to blame someone else, or saying, "I didn't do it, honest." Yeah, right. I have proof that he ate the Lucky Charms. See the little marshmallow in his beard???? Uhuh . . . . . . . EVIDENCE!!!!! Don't let that cute little face fool you, he's a terrorist, I tell ya'!!!!

DBacks/Marlins 7-09

Pitcher Clay Zavada, funny mustache guy.

Watching Marlins hitting practice.

Joshie with a couple of the Rallybacks.

OD with Rallybacks also.

Well, we whomped all over the Marlins this day. Woo hoo-- 8-1!!! This was an awesome game.

Roy My Bro

Getting off the plane in Los Angeles.

Roy stuck in his "babyseat" that
seatbelt held him in super tight, hilarious!

Just a cool sign I saw.

This is where the doctor's office was.

Eating Thai BBQ, sooooo good!!!

This is "Hamburger Fairies," as Roy said. Notice the rainbow flags.

Cool view looking West, out above the ocean.

Coming home.

Well today, Dad, Roy and I went to see this eye doctor in Beverly Hills. Roy has this horrible eye disease and the doctors here in Phoenix have told him that his ONLY option is to have a corneal transplant, he wanted a second opinion, so off we were. The doctor had good news, Roy is a candidate for this procedure and hopefully he will be getting it done soon!

Spending the day with Dad and Roy was super fun and we laughed ALOT, about all kinds of silly stuff. Roy and these one-liners he comes up with, hilarious. Like we had the GPS going and the lady's voice on there is telling us where to go. We started laughing, because Dad and Roy were saying, "what if you go the wrong way?" Then this lady speaking Spanish would come on and say, "Por que vias (sp) oeste, way, pinche' pendejo?" (I know I'm spelling it totally wrong). We were laughing . . . . . you had to be there, with Roy's accent and all.

After Roy's appointment we were driving down Santa Monica and went all the way down past La Cienega, so we were like in West Hollywood. We found a place called "Hamburger Mary's," which Dad called "Dirty Mary's" the whole time. So we walk in and the "hostess," who is this big tall guy, he seats us. And right away I noticed something about the place, but didn't say anything about it to Dad or Roy, they just proceeded to read their menus. But I'm looking around and notice there are only men in the restaurant, and our "hostess" was completely effiminate. Also, in two of the windows were two signs that said, "Vote For Prop 8," and "If You Love Equality . . . . ." So, THEN I asked Dad and Roy, "do you notice anything about this place?" They still didn't get it. So I had to tell them. They kind of froze for a second. Funny. Then we proceed to still read the menus and Roy comes across the "specials" in the middle of the menu. There was something for "Hot Latino Night" notice I said, Latino, not Latin Nights, or Latina Nights, it was Latino. The next one said, "Drag Night," and so on, you get the picture. I thought it was hilarious. But we decided to go across the street and eat Thai BBQ, (which ended up being sooooo good, small hole-in-the-wall place.) But before we left, our waiter came up to us to take our drink order, (which took him a long time in the first place), and I told him that we had changed our minds, which he then proceeds to tell us, in his best feminine voice "well, it's a free country, we can all do what we want!"

So when we finish at the other restaurant we have to pass by Hamburger Mary's once again to get our car from the parking lot next door. So I had them stand under the sign and I took their picture, Roy REALLY didn't want to, but Dad made him. As Roy looks up, he says, "I guess we should have known from those, what kind of place this was." So we all look up and there are about eight rainbow flags posted on the roof on this place. We just laughed and walked to our car. You can see some of the flags in the picture of them in front of the restaurant.

So we proceed down the freeway, which we were cutting it super close getting to the airport. But I think God had to be with us this entire day, first of all with the good news with Roy, then there was absolutely no traffic while we were driving to the airport (which is highly unusual for LA, right?) So we get to the Hertz place to return the car and there is a man walking up to us and he says, "If you don't need a receipt and you're in a hurry you can just leave the keys in the car and go." So we were like, "heck yeah we're in a hurry," and he heard us and said, "You guys in a rush to get to the airport?" We told him we were and he said, "get back in the car and I'll take you." So we did and he took us to the airport, super quick. We would have had to wait for the bus to take us to the airport, find our gate and walk to it. But this way, he just dropped us off right in front and we were able to go inside, print our boarding passes (which Alan had graciously gotten for us, all we had to do was re-print them, thank you Honey!) We went through security, which, again, God is good, there was one person in front of us. How often does THAT happen, right? So we get to the gate with at least 25 minutes to spare. Wow!! God was definitely with us this day.

Thank you Lord for all that you did for us this day, all that you provided, and all the Grace and Mercy you showed all of us today. I know everything good comes from You and without you, we couldn't do any of the wonderful things we do each and every day. You provide the breath of life, the compassion, love and mercy that we have for all people we come in contact with. Thank you Lord, for the doctor that saw my brother and that he saw he was able to help him, thank you!!!! Thank you for a wonderful day!!!!!!! Amen.