Today when we came home from school, the neighbors cat was taking a siesta on our front porch. The boys even got out of the car and went into the house through the garage and the cat just watched it all not moving a muscle!! Just make yourself at home Mr. Cat!
I think he looks so pretty laying there though, don't you?
Here's my grown up 6th grader - ready for his first day back!! Hey, he's actually smiling! Y
Drew, on the other hand....well...
Just kidding! He was happy! Y
Here we go again...another year of learning and fun! I know there are lots of prayers going up today as the new year gets started!! Have a good first day back everyone!! Tonight we went to this beautiful home, (sorry the picture is TERRIBLE! Trust me, it is a beautiful home!) And had a "back to school bash" with our new Sunday School class!! There was a ton of people there, and their kids!! We were a little nervous about going, being new to the church and class, but we had sooo much fun!!! We met some new people and talked and got to know others! Wow! God is good!! There was swimming for the kids and homemade ice cream! Yum!! We are blessed with some wonderful families at our church and Dan and I look forward to growing our friendships with them!!!!
Anyway....this house is set in the country and there are all sorts of animals...like donkeys, llama, a long horn and .... two gorgeous, friendly CAMEL!!!
The story with the camel was that First Baptist church did a big Christmas presentation a few years ago and someone had leased these camels for the church to use, well it got too expensive so this family (where the party was) bought the camel so the church could use them. Wow! They have a huge amount of land so the camel just roam around and run with the cars as they pull into the road to the house!
You can see there is a cattle guard to keep the camel away from the house!
The camel were very soft and very friendly!
Dan had wanted to take a weekend trip out of town this last weekend before school, but I asked Dan if we could please stay in town and finally get to be a part of a party the SS class has! We are really glad we stayed! Sunday morning is promotion Sunday and another big fellowship time together! Can't wait!!! God is good, all the time.Today our good friends from Lubbock came down to see us!! Laurie and I met years ago at church when our oldest, Zach and Gavin, were THREE! Now they are both starting 6th grade!! We miss them not living here in town anymore, but we have found that it is easy to keep up our friendship over the miles! God is good!
Jumping in!!!! Thank goodness the weather cooperated ~ it was plenty HOT!!
Cassidy is Laurie's daughter (she's in the polka dots) and she is Drew's age! They will both be starting 4th grade! Cassidy brought a friend, Janea, to keep her company with all the boys!!
The boys were ruling the hot tub!! PARTY!!!
Thanks Lar for coming to see our home and spend the day swimming with us! We are so thankful for yawl's friendship!! Can't wait til next year! YToday Zach got braces on! It is crazy thinking he is old enough for them!! He is one of the lucky ones that got all his adult teeth in early, so he was ready for them!! He is ready for 6th grade - starting in a week!!!!
Thought I'd post a pic of Drew...he's busy building with the Lego's he's buying with his birthday money!!
While Dan went to Seattle to spend a little time on this...
and that...
the boys and I went to NM to visit Grammy!
Our first stop was Red Lobster! Yum
Drew loves those crab legs!!!
and they both LUV dessert!!! Y
Grammy had gotten tickets from a customer to an Isotopes game!
They were awesome box seats! In that section, they spoil you with your own concession and everything!! We felt special!! WooWee!!!
We didn't get autographs from the team, but we did get one from the mascot!!
Another day we rode the new Railrunner train into Albuquerque to see a movie! The theater is right across the street from the train station in Alb! Talk about convenient!!
This trip was so much fun! Getting to talk and see all the sights and not have to worry about driving! Nice and relaxing! This was one of my favorite things we did!
We saw the new "Ice Age" movie. It was really cute!!
After the movie, we had some time before our train home, so what else would we do but visit the game room at the theater!
The boys even made a trip to Walmart fun!! ha ha
Another day Zach got to pick what we did, so off to Hinkley Family Fun we went! We all played a round of golf! (I got several holes in one! yay me!)
And the boys played a TON of video games and laser tag. They had sooooo much fun! A whole FIVE hours of fun while Grammy sat patiently and watched the boys with a happy smile on her face. Toward the end, I even played a few games and had a blast too! hee hee
Drew celebrated his actual birthday at Grammy's! He got this handsome watch from Uncle Mike! Thanks Uncle Mike!!
A new bible (just like Dad's) with his name on it!!!
And a birthday wouldn't be complete without a game of pin the something star wars on the something star wars...
And of course we all got blindfolded and spun around!!!
Drew got to pick what we did on his birthday and he picked the Albuquerque Aquarium! 
Eels and other large fish... 
sharks and this huge puffer fish! It stared at the boys for a really long time!!
We also went downstairs to steer the boat, but duh, we didn't realize the nice background in the back to pose against. (Thanks for showing us the right way to do it Lar!!)
Right down the street from the aquarium was the new Tingly Beach. We got there just as all the fun was closing down. We had planned to ride paddle boats, but no luck. :(
I'm TEN!
For dinner, Grammy took us to "The Melting Pot" to eat some fondue!! YUMMY!!!
We all enjoyed it, but dessert was my fav!! (oink oink!)
Grammy found everything fun to do in Albuquerque while we were there. This is called "Albuquerque Jumps" and it was two rooms full of blow up jumpers and slides! There was a whole day care group there, so it was EXTRA full and EXTRA loud! Again, Grammy sat so patiently watching the boys with a smile of contentment on her face!! (thanks Grammy!)
The week ended with my 20th high school reunion!! It was so fun seeing everyone (well, almost everyone ~April!!) :) again! Some people hadn't changed at all and others, well, yes, they had changed! Here I am with Sandra (the blond) who I had a lot of fun with way back when, and the other friend is Cassandra. I couldn't help but wish my nieces had been there to help me with my hair though! ha It hasn't changed much in 20 years either! ;)
As you can see, it was a fun filled week. It is always good to be at Grammy's. Thanks grammy for entertaining us and loving us! We love and miss you!!!
