Where I Come From

Where I come from is a little bit country... and a LOT redneck! haha
I love it here!!! As I got back in the car after taking the above picture, there were cows crossing the road. This guy was one of them. My girls came back to my sisters and told my brother in law we saw a "happy cow". No lie. They call them happy cows here. :)
This is my dad's barbeque! It tasted SO good and in fact, we are grilling the same meal again tonight!!! BBQ chicken, corn and frijoles. (and a little bit Mexicano here too)

This is also on my dad's party post but this fits perfectly into my 'redneck' post too! This was the caterer at my dad's party. :) I gave them such a hard time about the hot dog guy coming! I didn't try the Sonoran dogs that night but the hot dog I had was the best hot dog ever! I can now go to the Wal Mart parking lot to get more if I want. haha We loved the Huatabampo guy!

This is my dad's "hot tub" in his front yard. This is what they were all doing when I brought Blake home to meet them. :) It's actually cold water in it. Who would think different in Arizona when it's 110+ degrees outside. 

Redneck? Ummm... yeah! 7 kids and one adult in the cold tub in the front yard! 

Arizona Days

This has been such a fun week so far!!! The desert is so amazingly beautiful. I forget. It's monsoon season right now so we are getting rain almost everyday and in the desert you can see it coming in over the valley or pouring down on the mountains in the distance! The best part is you can smell the rain here! I love it. It has to be my favorite smell. There is so much to write about. Some of it will be for a post of it's own so for now...

My brother in law took us out to go horseback riding on Monday! It's one of my all time fave things to do besides go toobing behind a boat! The ride was awesome. The weather was good and the scenery was beautiful. This is Bella and Desi before our ride.

Bella and Destiny again, this time it was right before Desi said "Aunt Mandy, I want off!" So she went back home and we traded her out for...

Cali!!! Bella and Cali rode this horse and it was good until the end when they were both complaining that they were squished in the saddle!

Kensington looking so hip ready to ride her horse.

The mountains are so pretty. Let me just tell you a little about my horse. He likes to be in the lead. He likes to run DOWN hills and UP hills. When he starts to trot the horses behind him like to trot too. He hurt my butt, my legs and my back muscles SOOOO bad. For two days straight! haha Ouchie, my ...

Braelyn was in the second group to go out. I, of course, was in both (hence the soreness). My brother in law, Noah, thought this older group would like to trot, run but Braelyn wasn't so happy about that. She was pretty ready to go home about half way through.

I love this little man! This is Aiden and he's a complete handful. My sister stays so busy with him.

Today, I met my girlfriends at McDonalds. I have known them since kindergarten. I had my first sleepover at Melynda's house (pink shirt) and Gayle and I go way back (borrowing her parents' van without them knowing before we were legally old enough to drive). Oh yeah! Fun times. It was really great to see them for a bit.

A preview of what's to come... Friday we are going out on the lake to do some of this!!! I can not wait. And I even more can not wait (does that even make sense, well it's after midnight so who cares if it does or not) for Saturday when Blake comes into town for five days! He's in for such a culture shock. :) It's a different way of life here. I will blog about it as soon as I get a chance. It's so nice!

More to come...

Our Trip To Arizona... So Far

We left on Thursday to come to Arizona to visit family and to surprise my dad for his Surprise 50th Birthday party. Our little trip took a turn for the worse when our car left us stranded in Bakersville, Texas. We were blessed to get roadside assistance and were towed from Bakersville to Ft. Stockton. The tow guy was scary and was covered in tattoos from head to toe and had some freaky piercings. However, I did notice a wedding ring which brought me comfort and the girls and I, along with Maxy, climbed into his wrecker for a 40 minute ride. He dumped us off at an uncertain location to have a mechanic look at our car. 

This is the 3rd hour after the break down and the kids were waiting for them to assess our car problems. This was right before they all 4 got their feet covered in grease. Ugh! Such a mess. 
We stayed that night in Las Cruces, NM when my angel of a cousin came to meet me halfway from Ft. Stockton to Cruces and she climbed in my car and drove us to her place for the night. She saved me that night since I was so drained from a very long and emotional day. We got to Sahuarita Friday at noon and have been playing ever since. Well, kinda... 

This is us on my dad's monster of a quad! So much fun! I love it. He lives on a lot of land so it's fun to find trails and ride in the sand washes near by. 
So, this is a new addition up at my dad's. Two cattle. Huh! My sister told me to not get attached if you know what I mean. I asked my dad about the cows today and he said for their property to be considered a "ranch" he needs 2 cows. If he only has 1 it's only a "farm". hmmm, didn't realize that's all it takes these days. I am going to consider getting 2 cow so I can have a ranch too. 

No lie- the girls rode in this golf cart for 6 hours straight on Saturday. They drive it around. After Kensington got it stuck once, there were no real problems. Though, today she did drive it through a tree and my niece got all mangled and has scratches all over her face and arms. Wow! Look at how many children can fit in one golf cart! Impressive. Hey, where are your parents, kids! 
I grew up here and I don't remember seeing so much wildlife before. Since we've been here we have had 3 ticks on Kensi and Cali, we saw this TARANTULA down my sister's front steps this morning and the girls "claim" they saw scorpions yesterday on their golf cart adventures. Disgusting! At least in Houston we only have flying roaches! haha 
We took a walk today with my mom, her community has a family of owls. This is the baby. We were so close, it's so amazing! And on our walk we confirmed that what the girls thought were scorpions are really lizards with their tails up. 

Bell and my niece, Destiny playing at grandpa's house
This is my cousin, Kensey from Las Cruces. We love her and she is really sweet. Thank you girl for coming to save us Thursday night! 
I will post more pics soon of the surprise party and of me and my mom and sister! Yay for family and for vacation! 

The BIGGEST and BEST news ever ever in the whole wide world

Blake and I are engaged!!! To say I am happy is an understatement. Ecstatic! Thrilled! That's better. We told the girls on Sunday and they were so happy too! They went off on their own and made up this song: 

"Hallelujah! Blake and * mom are * going to * get married"

 It will be August 15th (yes, of this year!) so mark your calendars. We will be married here in Houston. More details will come! 

This Day...

This day we are called upon to do hard things... 

:(

Summertime

You gotta love Texas Graduations! 

Jordan graduated along with 700 or so others from Klein High this past weekend. It was held at Reliant Stadium where the Houston Texans play ball! I am really proud of my oldest niece! 

Sarai and Ana came down from Dallas. It was way fun to spend time with them there. 

Skyler went to the MTC this week to report for his two year mission for the church. I can not express how proud I am of him. He's an exceptional young man and he's going to be an awesome missionary! I miss him already though. It's a strange feeling. He went in yesterday. 

While Shannon and Jared took Skyler to Utah I was able to spend some time with the other kids. We went to the pool twice this week. Here are some random pics of our time. It was really, really FUN! 

I think I am super fortunate to not only have my four little beauties but to have all nine of these kids in my daily life and my sister's little ones also (even though they live far away :( . I have so much love for all these kids. They honestly could ALL be my own. It's an amazing feeling. 

Falling Teeth

I think it may be a record or something? Braelyn pulled out 3 loose teeth tonight. Three! I think the Tooth Fairy may be in a bind for the payoff for this unexpected loss. All at once... 

She wanted me to take a pic of the three teeth but I thought it was a little nasty so here is a pic of her instead. :)