It's a good day...

We are on a roll today!

The battery died in the Xterra, it was under warranty and we got a new one for free!

I went to a jewelry party and won a real cool bracelet!

Jim and I went to move a chair and found the remote we have been missing for almost 6 months!

We are now turning everything else in the house upside down to see what else we can find!

Spring Break

I thought it was about time I showed you all our home away from home! This is it in all it's glory!Yes that is a "veranda" you know if you can't have on on the house if you can fit one in on your vacation home I would highly suggest it! It features just enough room for the 5 of us but when you can consider anything around you back yard it is a pretty good deal! I have really started to enjoy camping, Tim and Abbey are old enough to wander around with friends and they also do a good job of letting Max come along for the little things. I have resigned myself to know that I will be the one packing up all the stuff to go. I have created a system to where I just have to grab one big box from the shed that has the stove and all the other camping must haves. Then in a truck I have the tent sleeping bags therma rests and the all that jazz. Then it is just the clothes and we are set. I do believe the last hour of camping can kill the trip! The take down! Everyone is either tired or distracted and it is always I lot of "I told you to to bring this to the car" I don't want to have to ask you again" " you can't just sit in the car while everyone else works" I dream of the day when they "get it" that it would be so much easier if they just bucked up brought a few things to the car and we could be on our merry way with out all the nagging!
Oh well a girl can dream! Now here are some pictures as I am off to put everything back in it's place so it will be another grab and go at least out the door!
We took our home to Sedona this weekend with some friends it was a lot of fun.
Here is Tim at Slide Rock State park, we all agreed we will have to come back when we can play in the water...Pictures make me realize how many freckles he really does have!

Here is a family picture they are rare to come by! Again at Slide rock

Max and Mommy! Max was an amazing hiker, he could climb the boulders "better than Batman" or so he said!

Tim

Abbey and Max in what I think was an old pump house.

Max loved his ice cream

At the Chapel in the rocks.

Abbey with the view from the Chapel

Moving forward with 2009 one day at a time

To say that 2009 has seemed like an uphill battle so far would not be too far off. It has been one challenge after another. Bill (my father in law) died a few days after Christmas and then I got a concussion that I kept re-injuring, I was on the job hunt because...well the kids have to eat... I started a new job very part time, got sick lost my voice, the kids all got LICE from somewhere while I was sick as ... mom has a growth that is going to require surgery and that ugly "C" word was thrown around in the Dr visits.... it has been an uphill battle.

As January came to a close I had high hopes for February! So high that I almost felt bad for it in some ways, in others, I thought as long as no ones dies or the plagues of the earth are not unleashed it has to be better right???

I did however keep saying to myself, things will work out...they ALWAYS do. My girlfriend Patty reassured me of this...telling me, Amy you have had all kinds of crap thrown at you in your life and it does always work out...and always for the best...

So far February is been an okay kind of month, Max and I go to "work" together everyday. What started out as something to put a little bit of food on the table has turned into more. I must say I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I am!

Mom had an old friend visit and it was a fun distraction to have her here. We enoyed the Desert Botanical Gardens her last night here..

Sandra called excited that we got a reservation at the camp grounds at Havasupia Falls in the grand canyon. So the next step is to get in better shape these last few month have been a physical setback as well and it is great motivation to loss some pounds and enjoy the beautiful hike with good friends.

Tim is starting baseball and I do love to watch him play, it is his passion and he makes me proud of how he has grown since he started.

Abbey has decided she needs an "E" in her name! She is growing into quite the pre teen. She is playing volleyball and enjoying time with her friends selling girl scout cookies and playing with Max.

Nothing like snow in the desert!

The kids had a half day on Wednesday and a friend said to me at school "Did you see the snow on 4 peaks?" Now 4 peaks doesn't get snow often but when you are in the desert and you can see snow off in the distance it is a thing of beauty! So we drove off to see how long it would take up to reach snow on the side of the road...we found it here, just past sunflower where my Dad worked on the Arizona Trail. Every new mountain that came into view had more snow than the last.

Max was amazed by the "icebergs" that were breaking off the melting snow...