It's a bird,...no an airplane...no, Its a bloody, scary skeleton and Fancy Nancy!

Another fun Halloween trick or treating with friends.  Sad to say but this might be the last year the big boy goes door to door.  I'm still keep my fingers crossed for next but not holding my breath.....

2nd Annual Football Fiesta

Bil is so thrilled, the year has rolled around to his favorite season, UofA Football! We began the season again with a pregame gathering at our house. The Moodys, Cooks and Johnsons (minus their kids) came for yummy food, great friends and some Football on TV. Thanks to Keira for making her delicious chicken flautas, Cheryl for making her version of Linda's famous salsa; which was just as tasty! And, Rosie for making Calabacita, it was yummy, thanks for reminding me how much I enjoy it.

The kids had a great time. The boys enjoyed running around, playing basketball, hanging out outside; while the girls hung out in Summer's room playing dress up and as Summer would say 'Having a party'-which means acting crazy and jumping on her bed.

While the game fans left, Keira, Cheryl and I enjoyed a lovely evening sitting outside enjoying the wonderful cool evening while Evan, Wyatt, Winnie and Summer watched a movie before falling asleep.

The evening ended with a huge win, UofA 19/Central Michigan 6 after a 43 minute delay due to lightening. Yes, we had a very happy Bil. Do you know one of Bil's favorite things is to wake up on Sunday after a win and leisurely enjoy the Sunday Paper and Cinnamon Rolls?

Mulit-Age and Mrs. Pagels, here they come!

We are so excited -well maybe me more than

anyone else-about the new school year! I was keeping my fingers crossed that Summer would be placed into Mrs. Green's 1st/2nd Grade Multiage Classroom and she was. From what I've seen and heard Mrs. Green will keep Summer on her toes and provide an environment full of enrichment, over-the-top assignments and activities due to her creativity and love of learning.

Mason will be spending the year in Mrs. Pagel's 5th classroom and its sure to be fun, exciting and engaging. They're already planning and preparing for the Annual 5th Grade Science Camp in Payson. During these three days the forest becomes the students' classroom allowing them to go on long hikes, visit a fish hatchery and working in small groups studying fossils, stream life, owl pellets and kinesthetic astronomy. Then he will end the year participating in a recreation of the Civil War, not to mention all the other awesome learning opportunities he will have throughout 5th grade. Not to mention hanging out with his buddies and noticing the 'opposite'.

Mason's Road Trip

This year Mason was invited to join Jason and Jonnie Ives on a road trip from Tucson, AZ to Beavercreek, OH. At first Bil and I weren't even sure we were ready to send him without us since he'd have to return on an airplane by himself and we really didn't think he'd be ready for that responsibility but boy were we wrong! We thought we'd mention it to him as we were still deciding how we felt about the idea, boy did he surprise us! As soon as we mentioned it, Mason was 100% committed, no questions asked. But we said you'll have to come home on the plane by yourself, he said no problem! So from that moment on, no matter what Bil and I were still thinking he was going! We are so glad he did, what a great experience and the change to spend time with the Ives family was a gift since Mason and Jonnie have not had the opportunity to spend much time together since Jason and Kelly moved when the boys were about 2 and 3 years old, before the move, the boys spend 5 days a week together while Kelly watched Mason when I returned to work when he was an infant and then during our beginning playgroup activities.

Mason loved the road trip, hanging out with Jonnie and Jason was awesome! They traveled in what Mason calls the toy car from Arizona to Ohio, stopping many times along the way.

One of their stops was to a park in MO that Jason used to play at when he was a boy. As you can see it is really cool, it has running water through it as well as this cave like hole to explore.

Fun Facts about the St. Louis Arch from http://www.getawayarch.com/

1. The Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States at 630 feet; it is the city's best known landmark and a popular tourist attraction.
2. Construction began February 12, 1963 and the last section of the Arch was put into place on October 28, 1965.
3. The Arch is a structure known as a catenary curve, the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and considered the most structurally-sound arch shape. The span of the Arch legs at ground level is 630 feet, the same as its height.
4. Each year, approximately a million visitors ride the trams to the top of the Arch. The trams have been in operation for over 30 years, traveling a total of 250,000 miles and carrying over 25 million passengers.
5. The Arch weighs 17,246 tons. Nine hundred tons of stainless steel was used to build the Arch, more than any other project in history.
6. The Arch was built at a cost of $13 million. The transportation system was built at a cost of $3,500,000.
7. In order to ensure that the constructed legs would meet, the margin of error for failure was 1/64th of an inch. All survey work was done at night to eliminate distortion caused by the sun's rays. Since the Arch was constructed before the advent of computer technology, relatively crude instruments were used for these measurements.
8. The Arch sways a maximum of 18" (9" each way) in a 150 mph wind. The usual sway is 1/2".

Birthday Wishes for our 10 year old Son....

Celebration of fun, silliness, laughing, chocolate chip cookie, root-beer floats....

and a little bit of sleep!

Will and Mas

And, the Nerf Wars have begun!

Yummy, chocolate chip deep dish cookie, did I say yum yet?

To our special little boy, yes I can still say that! 

Still as sweet as sugar,

Silly as a clown,

Serious as a soldier,

Smart as a fox!

Happy Birthday Mason, We love you so much!

XOXO Daddy, Mommy, Summer and Ceaser

An Amazing Tucson Monsoon.....

One of the many beauties of Tucson.....

It begins with a brilliant blue sky,

then fluffy white clouds roll in over the Catalina Mountains.

Then the dark clouds begin to form all around us, you can see the darkness form all across the city.

A rainbow is created from the moisture in the air.

Then all of the sudden the lightening show begins, crackling in the sky. 

Next, the sky opens up and a crash of rain comes down. 

Take a deep breathe, smell the rain hitting the hot Arizona asphalt, a smell that any Tucson knows so well. 

Summertime...A time for A Spa...

Fill the bucket with water, get a towel and nail bag.

     Put your masque on....

Take polish off, clean nails..

paint the nails......walla~~    

Girls+Wine+Knitting+Blogging=Laughing and Fun!

Some of the girls.....

Keira, Rosie, Krista, Linda and Cheryl

 

Cheers!....

Circle of Friends scarf......getting closer to being done.....

Some last minute touches....

And, our friend Denise.....

Now, the fun....creating the design....

And finally!  The afghan is completed.  

9 wonderful women, 35 knitted or crochet squares all made with love.

The blanket was created for Keira's childhood friend who had been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at a later stage.  We made this to comfort her while she had treatment 100s of miles away. 

Thanks girls for the love and energy you put into creating this priceless gift.

 

Note the silly smiles we have, we had well exceeded our bedtimes, we'd moved past exhaustion...we had entered our next wind and were totally giddy.....I think it was about 2 am when this pictures was taken.

Disneyland and Huntington Beach

Our first night in California we decided to go eat yummy Mexican food at one of our favorite restaurant's when we visit Disneyland, it is called El Torito, the chips are light and perfectly salted.



After a swim in the early morning on Friday, we decided to head to Huntington Beach for lunch and to hang out at the Pier. The day was beautiful and we were able to see many of God's great creations. These huge, trees were amazing! They we so soft, like a sponge. The blue ocean with the white waves crashing was mesmerising.



Isn't he so cute? He was fascinated with the surfers.

I just love her, look how sweet she is. Vacations are so special, time to just enjoy one another, no phone or distractions like you have at home.

What it would be like to just fly around catching fish from the sea.

How amazing it is that they are able to build these big Piers in the ocean.

All along this beach you see oil wells, even in what appears to basically be people's backyards.

Love!

Perfect day to fly kites.

Yep, another fun, great trip to the 'Happies Place on Earth'

Bil planned another trip to Disney over Rodeo break, of course we were all excited to go be kids for a few days. The Gees decided to join us for a traditional 'Westmoreland Disney Trip'. We were excited they were coming. We had a great day.

Doesn't that smile say it all!

Check out the hot girls cruising Autotopia.

Yes, men can multi-task too.

Lunch and feet break!

Check it out. Look who's big enough to go on 'California Screamin' Just as we were finishing the loop upside down I hear Summer yell, "Awesome!" This was the big excitement of this trip, Summer couldn't wait to do the big roller coaster. Look who else is excited to ride 'California Screamin'.....

Grrrr, that would be aka Bear Mountain to the Westmorelands. This is one of Summer and Mason favorite rides. They are so funny, they have a contest to see who gets the wettest. It was hard to tell this time as they were both completely soaked, as well as Bil and I.

Complete fun! The sounds, the smells, beautiful colors, music, rides, lights and so much more. A place where we can all be kids.

Check out these Goofy kids, who do the belong to?

Simple Adorable!

Mason and Summer are so fun, as soon as they hear we are going on a trip the ask if we have to go to a timeshare presentation. I can just hear them now telling their kids, "When we were your age, we would go on these great trips, but we always had to go play while your grandparents went to listen to a timeshare presentation."

I'm still surprised everytime they ask us to come back to do an owner review. Who can pass up three free nights at the Crown Plaza and some Disney tickets? Obviously the Westmorelands can not!

'til next time........