Family Vacation

NASCAR AND POLAR EXPRESS

Tony Stewart Kyle Busch


Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon

Sunday we loaded up at 7:00am and left after I got home from work at 6:00am. We went to Mesa and dropped the boys off with Aunt Mame (Ami). They had fun with her, I am just not so sure she had as much fun with them. She is awesome and I want to thank her for watching her for such a long period of time. Thank You Mame. Chad and I headed to pick up Stacie (aka J.P.M.) and Danny at their hotel so we could go to the NASCAR races. On the way out Danny swore Stacie drives just like J.P.M. almost putting a car in the wall the night before. It was a blast.

Stacie and I were dressed in our bright orange Tony Stewart shirts to support Chad's driver. He didn't win but was involved in 2 pretty good accidents. As we were sitting there in the sun, all of the sudden it started to rain. Here is a picture of us after the rainstorm. Stacie and I were glad it was rain and not some druck person spitting on us. The red flag went up and the drivers were stopped for 22 minutes. We just sat there in the rain and enjoyed it for the time being. Soon the sun came out and dried up all the rain and the race got underway again. It was crazy. PIR turns into it's own little city out there with all the redneck NASCAR fans. It even has its own tent city Bashes. The hill was covered with people and lots of fun drunk people you get to see.

Jimmie Johnson won the race and this is him doing his victory burn out down the track.

We got back to Ami's about 8pm and the boys were exhausted. We crashed at Ami's house for the night to get rested for the next day.

We went down to Cyndi's so she could cut my hair and we let the boys play with all the girly toys. They loved the kitchen, shopping cart, and all the other toys girls play with that we don't have at our house. Thank you Cyndi for the much needed haircut. We then got back in the car and drove to Williams to ride the Polar Express Train.

We had so much fun. We boarded at 6:30 and took off for the North Pole. They served us cookies and hot chocolate read the story polar express to us and sang christmas songs. We arrived at the North Pole and saw Santa and his elf. Santa boarded the train and walked through each car and handed each child a silver jingle bell like in the movie.

It was really cute and the boys had a blast. We got back to the station at about 8:10pm.

After we got loaded we then headed on our way to Snowflake to see my parents and stay the night with them. Thank you Mom & Dad for the place to crash, pizza and ice cream. The boys love going to grandma and grandpa's cuz they have a cool wooden train tracks and of course it is the home of Smoochie. We had a lot of fun on our fast and furious vacation.

Duck ponds and Halloween

Here are some pictures of the boys.  The day before Halloween we drove by Mike Grauer's house and saw his duck pond (he has quite a few ducks there).  Carson asked, "mom, what do ducks eat?"  I said bread.  He then asked, "what else?"  I replied I have no idea.  Then the little smart boy said, "well then we will have to go to the library, check out a book on ducks and see what ducks like to eat so we can feed them.  I told him Dad might have to look on the internet and we might be able to arrange to go feed the ducks.  Chad had halloween day off so I text him and told him we were going to the duck ponds out at the fairgrounds. It was actually lots of fun.  Next time we will have to take the boys bikes.  I forgot about all the cement out there they could ride on.

  

We also went trick or treating for the 1st time.  The kids, especially Carson has never been interested.  But this year, he was so excited to go.  They had a party at school on Thursday and he got to wear his costume.  Since Carson had his on Peyton & Parker demanded they get to were their's also.  So we practiced on Thursday for the big day of Halloween. They were so excited to get all the candy in their buckets.  They all went as Nascar drivers.  Carson was his dad's favorite Tony Stewart, Peyton was Dale Earnhardt Jr. (the amp energy sponsorship fit him to a T), Parker was the blue Jeff Gordon (as opposed to his green and yellow car he sometimes drives) and Gunner was Kyle Busch (the m&m boy).  It was fun to see their excitement that night.  I think I like my childhood tradition of going out to eat for Halloween instead but it was fun. 

10 year Reunion

PIMA HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1998

Albert Sanchez, Landon Morris, Raul Luzania, Dusty Luster, Gary Bell, Enos Manor, Kody Bartlett, Vernon Batty, Lehua Natividad, Hannah Hoopes, Jason Gojkovich, LaRee Braithwaite, Chad Bryce, Heidi Lines, Danielle Ray, Shari Whitmire, Fara Ward, Sarah Kilbride, Bridget Preston, Amy Terry, Boyce Bingham, Aaron Maxwell, Byron Smith--(not pictured Manuel Treviso, Tayson Hatch, Armida Montiel, Levi Holl, Phillip Farr, Cara Langley,Melanie Smith)

October 17th and 18th we had our 10 year class reunion. We kicked off the reunion with the high school parade. Hannah rounded up the train cars and built all the signs for our kids to ride in the parade. We had signs with the kids names and who they belonged too. Yes, Chad and I are the only one besides Tayson that has 4 kids. What a goal to reach for your ten year. No, we wouldn't trade it for nothing.

Then Friday night, we had a hotdog cookout on the baseball field and then watch Pima play against Tempe Prep that night. On Saturday, we all went out to Bridgets parents house for a BBQ and just to sit and catch up on what everyone has been up to, and had a jumping

castle for the kids to play on. Then that night the adults went to Gabi's Cafe for dinner, dancing, a live band (Hannah's husband is the drummer) and more catching up with everyone. It sure was fun to sit and visit with you all. Thanks to all who helped plan this. We had a good crowd at all the events. See ya in 10!!

Two 3 year birthdays!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEYTON & PARKER. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

A little late, but better late than never. We had a party for the twins on October 13 for their 3rd birthdays! Wow time flies. We can't believe they are already 3 but they are.

We are so happy to have them in our family. I got a little creative this year and made their cakes. Peyton wanted a train cake and Parker wanted a race car cake. They turned out really cute. The presents were quite funny. Having two 3 year olds opening presents at the same time made it look like Christmas morning.

They were ripping them open so fast and then throwing it and moving on to the next. They got legos, tinkertoys, computers, clothes, movie, puzzles, books and green and

orange bath soap. They were too cute. Thank you everyone for the gifts.

Carson

He has been very funny lately.

The other day we were driving down by the post office and we saw Tyson Draper (Clint's dad) driving to the school on his Rhino. Carson from the very back of the car shouts, "Mom, I just saw Clint's dad driving. Did you see him. I rode on that at Clint's party." I then asked him if he was on his Ranger and he replied, "No mom he is riding his Rhinoceros (Rhino)." It was too cute.


Back in September, I was going down to Mesa to see Ami and Cyndi was going to cut my hair. We were getting the kids to bed the night before I was to leave and Carson was having a bad day all around. He would just get puppy dog face and cry. Finally I took him to our bed and was laying with him trying to see what was the matter. I told him that his dad was going to pick him up from school and thought that would make him happy. Nope, made it worse cuz he thought I was just going to work. I told him I was going to see Aunt Mame and Cyndi. I then asked him if he wanted me to bring him something back from the store for him. He started to cry and said, "my brothers backpacks are bigger than mine." It was so sad. So needless to say we went to Target to get him a new backpack. I bought all the boys the same one, the same size so no more complaining about that one. He will have to think of something different to complain about.

Way Overdue!!

It's been awhile for updating the blog so this kinda sums up the last month and a half. I am not very good at this blogging thing. In July, the 3 older boys got to go up to Snowflake to spend a few days with grandma and grandpa Lines. They had a really good time. While they were gone I went to vist grandma Evelyn and grandpa Joe. As I walked in grandpa was in the kitchen and asked if I wanted to go to 3 way with them to look at the big crane. He heard from a friend that a 300 ft crane was up there working on the new bridge they are building. Notice the U.S.A. flag flying on the top of the boom. So Gunner and I jump in the car with them to go for a drive. We went out on a little dirt road that you probably aren't supposed to be on to get a better look. Grandma kept saying that we probably shouldn't be on this road, but grandpa replied, "they can't stop me from going down to my friends house along the river." So we were safe. We were not getting closer to the crane to get a better picture, we were going to visit grandpas friends. I love spending time with grandma and grandpa. It was a good Thursday afternoon drive. Carson started preschool last week with Mrs. Bryce and Mrs. Crockett. He loves to go to school to learn and his brothers hate seeing him leave. They really are good friends. He is working on writing his alphabet and so far has completed his A and B. He loves to play the computer and is teaching his brothers to go from game to game. Believe it or not he still enjoys building train tracks and driving his trains all over the house. Peyton is just being Peyton. Always on the go and thinking of the next task he needs to get accomplished. He is following in his dads footsteps and can get to where he needs to get on the computer as well as the Nintendo Wii. They are all pretty good at Wii sports. He also enjoys trains and tracks. But best of all he loves to pester his brothers and on the other hand is so sweet and gentle to Gunner. Parker is getting pretty fiesty himself. He and Peyton have their fair share of fights lately and I am not looking forward to age 3 (in October). It seems like Carson was worse at 3 than 4. Parker is also such a little peace maker. Parker will give up a toy he is playing with to make someone else happy. He finally is getting to play the computer as well as the Wii. Trains are one of his hobbies also. Gunner, on the other hand, is the sweetest little boy. He is always happy and just content to sit and watch his brothers play. He is already 4 1/2 months old and weighed in at 20 pounds 8 ounces and was 27 inches long. Thinking back he is probably my biggest boy at this age. We are so greatful for all of our little boys in our family to keep us on our toes 24/7. We love them. The boys love when their dad comes home from work. That means 1 big wrestling match.

We are still alive, just busy!!

T-ball is over and I don't know who is happier about this. Carson did not really like it in the beginning but his last game I will have to say he did really well. He hit the ball hard all 3 times and ran as fast as he could around the bases. He is really cute when he runs the bases because he has this little jump kick type thing he does in the middle of running. Anyways, we are proud of him for playing hard. He just started the 2nd session of swimming lessons and really looks forward to going to the pool for that. The twins are just wild as ever. I caught them the other day playing in a diaper box. They would both sit in the box and act like they were driving a car and then they would fall over backwards in the box. They are always having so much fun together and it amazes me the ways they keep each other entertained. Gunner is just growing like a weed. He is such a good baby and very content to just sit and look around and watch his wild brothers. He was 15 pounds and 23 3/4 inches tall at his 2 month appointment and Dr. Kartchner called him "Tiny!" We were thinking maybe 12 pounds, but they put him on the scale and said 15 pounds and I just laughed. He makes life so fun. Chad and I are trying to keep up with the kids and are so thankful for each one of them. There is always a wrestling match going on at our house.