Def Leppard

Us with Vivian Campbell (left) & Rick Allen (right) from one of our favorite '80's (& today) bands:DEF LEPPARD!

Todd with his autographed guitar.

The picture that will have to pass for Joshua's 8 year picture. Yes, I obviously took it myself but it will have to do:)

Hannah's shortest haircut yet. These were about 1 month ago. I forgot exactly.....

So here's the exciting news that the few of you who actually read this already know: We got to meet two members of Def Leppard before their concert a couple weeks ago. Todd won tickets to see them off a radio station a few months ago but since we really needed the cash, we sold them. Then he won another pair from a different radio station and the chance to win a grand prize. I wanted to sell the 2nd pair too (even though I still love Def Leppard) but it was too close to the day and we couldn't pick up the tickets. They were going to hold them at the box office on will call for us. Then Todd found out he won the grand prize to meet the band & an autographed guitar. Of course we went to the concert!

So we were pretty excited. Sadly, we only met 2 members and it wasn't the 2 I would have preferred but still cool. It's not every day you meet a drummer who can play drums better with one arm than some 2 armed drummers, right? They signed a couple CD covers, the concert promoter took 1 picture, and we were off to see the show. We got the guitar the next week. I can't believe we've been listening to them for over 20 years. Fun!

Also pictured is Hannah's shorter haircut and Joshua's 8 year picture that I finally just took with my camera. There is a studio that does a really cheap package but since he hates it so much I didn't want to deal with it. I have enlargements for those of you who usually get one.

Hannah has been enjoying theater again as well as being on a Junior Bible Quiz team with 4 other girls. Their team name is God's Girlz. It's Bible trivia similar to the National Spelling Or Geography Bees. If they make it to State then they move on to Regionals which will be held in AZ this year. The girls are beyond determined to make it to Nationals in Florida so there will be much fundraising going on! Their first meet is in November. Hannah's play this fall is "Fools" and she's pretty happy with her part. It's a comedy about a town in Russia who is cursed with stupidity.

Joshua will begin flag football in October and he's very excited for it to start. This is a different league than we've done flag football with before. The homeschool football usually starts around the end of November or beginning of December. I'm not sure if we're doing that one this year. This league is sponsored by the NFL so the jerseys will be team names from the NFL. Based on the favorite of some of the players his team name will be the Steelers. Perfect! I guess there were 2 other Steelers fans and some parents didn't care to vote so that was the majority.

We have been busy getting the kids' art ready for the state fair in October. We have to drop off next weekend. They are hoping for some blue ribbons.

That's the update for now.

Deer Farm

Monday, we went to the Deer Farm that we went to a few years ago. We needed to kill some time before lunch and practice. There were many hungry deer. They can be as pushy as goats and willing to munch on clothing too! They're cuter though. There were other animals there too but I'm not posting all the pictures. I'll let you imagine a talking cockatiel,bison,peacocks,mini horses,camel,llamas,reindeer, and plenty of squirells.

Flagstaff Trip-Cardinals Training Camp

Larry Fitzgerald signing the kids' jerseys. Although it has already wiped off of Joshua's jersey since he signed on the number. It doesn't really matter as his signature on Joshua's jersey was just a couple scribbles. Hannah's actually says "Larry".

Todd Heap signing before practice.

Todd is happy about this picture with the Coach since he was one of the coaches for the Steelers in the past.

Tetherball! Remember that?

Our trip to Flagstaff to watch the Cardinals practice was Sunday & yesterday. I had not given much thought to rain. There was a lot of it. The Sunday practice got moved inside & the public was not allowed to view it:( Big bummer since the whole trip depends on the Monday practice going on outside. We learned the best spot to stand for autographs though.

Monday morning the weather was sunny and beautiful until we got to NAU for practice. We got there a couple hours early to stake out a spot as advised and there were already a few people there. We did get a spot near the gate but the sprinkles turned into heavy rain for most of those 2 hours. Since there was no lightning, practice would be outside. We got a couple autographs before practice but most of the guys ignored the fans to get on the field. We took turns saving that spot and watching the actual practice. The closer it got to the end of practice the more fans filtered down to the fences. We got quite a few signatures on the kids' jerseys and a couple former Steelers (Coach & player) on Joshua's hat. We got the one we came for-Larry Fitzgerald. We were pretty lucky as everyone was pushing in for him to sign something but he only signed for less than 5 minutes.

Coach Whisenhunt was the last to come down the hill and signed for just about everyone and posed for pictures. He was very gracious. He talked to people and seemed to appreciate the fans.

We got home last night around 8:45 pm. We got some school in today but Joshua seems to be not feeling well. There may be a sick day for him tomorrow.

Junior Bible Quiz class AND theater both start on Friday for Hannah. She's excited. Not much else planned in the coming weeks or even month or two.

Hockey GOLD!

Practicing before the game.

Gold medal winning team.

Kids with their gold medals!


Hockey is over and the kids won gold! They were soooo happy. If they only get 1 gold medal per year this is the sport they'd want it in. We're so proud of their efforts. This is the first year they were on the same hockey team. There were only enough kids to make 3 teams instead of 2 teams (or more) per age grouping. This meant each team had kids ranging from 7-15. Joshua had no problem competing with/against 15 year olds and he earned the nickname "the beast" from some kids for his goal tending abilities. Yay for them!!

4th of July

4th of July. America's birthday. MY anniversary! 14 years and counting:o)

We started the day by going to Applebee's for lunch because kids ate free that day. Then we went to Lowe's for paint for Hannah's room (a make over happening in October). As if that wasn't exciting enough, we then went a model home to enter a contest for a trip to Disneyland! You had to find a hidden Mickey and tell the salesperson where he was and then we got to hide it for the next person to find. You all know how we like to find hidden Mickeys. Here's to hoping we win that soon.

That afternoon some friends came over to go swimming & BBQ. They had to leave before it got dark so we set off some fireworks in the daylight. After it got dark some other friends brought over their stash of fireworks and we set those off too. We never did make it out to see any "professional" fireworks. Still a fun day though.

June/July

I see it's been over a month since I posted. There just hasn't been anything picture worthy going on. June was just typical. We do school 2-3 days a week,the kids played hockey (with a few trips to Wet 'n Wild mixed in),and we see the summer movies. I just thought I'd pop in to let my few readers know I'm still around.

The kids last hockey game is next week and they will end up with at least silver but we're hoping for gold, of course. Joshua has earned the nickname "The Beast" from some other kids for his goal tending abilities. I guess all those times he's asked me to throw things at him has paid off! I expect that will be the next time I'll have a good picture to post.

July 4th was our 14th anniversary. We went out to lunch,had some friends over for swimming and BBQ, & then some more friends came over with fireworks. We never did make it to an actual fireworks show this year.

Football Jerseys

Awwwwwww, aren't they adorable? Never mind, I already know the answer to that question.
Not too long ago I got Joshua this jersey at Savers and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than $5 for it. Then at the Savers Memorial Day sale I found an adult jersey and paid only $4!! It's big on her but I could not pass up that deal. Hopefully that trip to Flagstaff for Cards training camp actually happens this season. Maybe Larry will sign them for these awesome kids.

Never fear, I also found Steelers shirts:) And another kids Blackhawks shirt. Score!

Luke AFB Pool season opener Family Free Day

Collecting ducks in the Duck Soup game.

Thawing t-shirts frozen in a block of ice. The first 5 minutes was body heat only!

Memorial Day weekend we started off with a free visit to the base pool for their season opening. It was free entrance and there were contests & raffle prizes. The kids won 3 squirt guns and a splash football. We also won a free night at Ft. Tuthill near Flagstaff. Yay! That's usually where we stay for our annual snow day but this prize expires in August so we'll have to find something fun to do up there this summer. IF there's a football season we are hoping it works out to see the Cardinals practice. Hope it works out.

On Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at Johnny Rocket's, and saw Pirates 4.
On Monday I took Hannah to 4 Savers stores for their half price sales. I got some good deals on some clothes and a few items for Hannah's beach themed room we'll be re-doing for her birthday.

Hockey starts tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Wet 'n Wild (1st day of Stay-cation)

In front of the wave pool.

On the Superbowl. Or, as we affectionately call it-the toilet bowl.

On the Tornado.

Here are the Wet 'n Wild pictures I promised. While it was the first thing we did on our stay-cation it did take me awhile to get the disposable underwater camera developed. Not many places develop them any more and it's expensive so unless we are going to Hawaii (doubtful) we won't be buying any more of those.

We've been back once since the mini vacatio0n and me and the kids are going again tomorrow.
Looks like fun, huh? It is:)

Phoenix Zoo

Whenever we see flamingos the kids find it amusing to do their impression for the camera.

The last day of our mini vacation we went to the Phoenix Zoo. Since we've all been to the zoo I'm not posting a ton of animal pictures. I just did that with the Bearizona pictures anyway. So it's mostly some family shots.

We had 5 fun filled days and were exhausted (in a good way). Hope you enjoyed all the pictures. I just got the Wet 'n Wild pictures developed off the water camera. So I will have those pictures to post sometime soon-maybe a few days. Keep checking back.

Amazing Jake's for Joshua's 8th Birthday

My boys.

2 wonderful (most of the time) kids.

Joshua shows no mercy in laser tag.

Hannah shows no mercy either. Watch out if you play with them. They only LOOK sweet and innocent.

Fun on the Frog Hopper.

Go Karts.

Mini golf.

Rock wall.

Bumper cars.

Tea cups.

Bowling.

On Tuesday we went to Amazing Jake's in Mesa for Joshua's birthday. They have an all day wrist band special on Tuesdays that includes all the rides/activities plus all you can eat buffet all day/night. So for $18.99 plus tax we got all the rides and 2 meals since we stayed from open till 1/2 hour before they closed (11am-8:30pm). They have laser tag,rock wall,mini golf,bowling,bumper cars,go karts, and 5 rides. They also have a bunch of games you play for a quarter and earn tickets for cheap prizes but we didn't do any of those. The buffet is pizza,salads,pastas,baked potatoes,sodas, and desserts.

Since we planned this while school was still in session it was mostly uncrowded. There were a few school groups there when we got there but they left after a few hours and then it was really slow. A couple times we had the laser tag room to ourselves and didn't have to go out and get back in line. THAT was great since laser tag ended up being Joshua's favorite. The first time in he asked if I'd help him but by the 2nd game he was off like a shot and it was every man for himself. I lost track of how many times we did that. It was double digits!

We did everything over and over and had lunch and dinner so we really got our monies worth out of it. It was a super fun day. We were exhausted when we finally got home. The next day was the last day of our "stay-cation". Zoo pictures are next.