Days: Better than Nights!!

Love, love, love this man!  We have

certainly had a whirlwind weekend.

Mike did his best to keep up.  It

is fun that I get to be the chauffer

now and he tags along for the

ride.  Today he spent most of the

day resting, but we were so

very, very blessed to have be

surrounded by family and friends

for the majority of the day.  I 

know that I am beginning to sound

like a broken record, but we

COULD NOT/WOULD NOT be

able to make it without them.

They are the most amazing

support group in the whole entire

world.  Selfishly, I wish that they

could keep the singing, dancing, 

and entertainment up during the 

wee hours!  That is when the good

old devil comes around and really

likes to make we worry and toil.

Perhaps these are struggles that I am

meant to endure alone.

That aside, today was a totally

amazing day with my favorite

Sunday dinner.  The menu included:

2 hams

homemade stuffing

homemade mashed potatoes

homemade rolls

cranberry sauce

yummy salad

green beans

and an amazing

apple cake to knock

your socks off

Sundays.I.love.'em.

The Tour Continues . . .

 Ann and Mitt had another BUSY day on

the TOUR with the company!!!  In 

true Ann-style, the girls started with a

massage.  Truthfully, I doubt that it was

truly Ann-style, as we went to the 

massage school for the 2/1 special.

Just the same, my day did start in 

the very same fashion as Ann's.  

After that, we went on a fun picnic

to Spring Mountain Ranch and ate,

and ate, and ate.  We cooked a pork

shoulder ALL night long and made

amazing pork sandwiches . . . for the

meat lovers, of course.

 We just can't get enough of this

be-a-utiful park.  It is hard to believe that

it is only about fifteen minutes from

our house, yet it is soooo much cooler!!!!

We love, love, love our Red Rocks!!!!

Other Super Saturday events included:

*picking up Prince Charming from a

sleep over

*selling popcorn

*going to the gun range shooting

*baking seven dozen cookies

*baking a fresh apple cake

*chopping the fixins for the

yummy stuffing for Sunday dinner

*making a run to the grocery store

Another Ann and Mitt Day.

 Holy Cow!  It was another WHIRLWIND

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY day for my sweet

husband and our crew.  Our mission was

to visit Hoover Dam.  Along the way

we made a couple of fun stops.  One

was to the Boulder Dam Hotel.  My

peeps are having a quilting retreat there

and I could NOT pass by without a 

quick stop in!!

 Fiddlestix quilt shop!!  Of course, all of

the rest of the crew went to eat.  I can

forgo food for a chance to go into 

an awesome quilt shop.  Fiddlestix has

ANYTHING that a quilter can dream of.

Yep!  We made it to the dam!!  Lots of

other people decided that they wanted 

to see the dam today also.  It was fun 

nonetheless and thankful that my Sam

came along with us!!  What a true blessing

that guy is!!! Love, love, love him.

 To end the festivities of the day, we

met Duane and Cathy at Viva Mercados.

All that I can say is yummy.yummy.yummy!

This is THE best Mexican food on the

planet.

So . . . you can see that this was 

another day similar to that of Ann

and Mitt.  I do wish that I had their

staff to help us keep up!!!!

Michigan Peeps.

They're heeeere!!  Here's to a weekend full

of fun!!!

It's Tough Being Luke!?!?

 Waffles with homemade whipped cream

ala strawberries you request . . . 

Not.a.problem.

 . . . working on Scout skills

My little firestarter is such a fun guy

to be around.  I do so love, love, love

him and am so very grateful that he

is mine, mine, mine.  ANY request

is not too big for him.  He is such an

amazing young man and a wonderful

part of our family.

Love.you.Luke.

Tuesday . . . Thinkin' About Wednesday!

 Simply put: I do not have enough hours

in each day.  What is a girl supposed to do?

 Sometimes the days meet . . . literally.

I go to sleep, just in time to wake up.

In all reality, I do think that sleep is a 

total waste of time!  However, it does

become necessary at some point.

Yep, chores are calling my name and there

is a TON of popcorn to get rid of help my

dear Prince Charming sell.  Don't get me

wrong . . . I am NOT complaining!!! There 

is just much to do and a little time in which

to accomplish it all!

Dissertationwise, my editor, BFF Kris 

has combed chapters 1-3 for EVERY 

dot and tittle.  I have been busily 

attending to the red marks all over 

minor corrections that she has noted.

Tuesday, like every single other day,

brought a bazillion blessings.  I am

blessed beyond measure.

Monday Night Fun!

The last few days have been a BLURRRRR!!

To curb the busy, busy Monday . . . we 

made a little pitstop!!!  Yep, it's sundaes

ALL THE WAY AROUND!!!!

Happy Monday!!!

Popcorn Kickoff

Yep!  Among fourteen other must-do

activities, today marked the yearly

Popcorn Kickoff for Scouts!!!

 Loyal, thrifty, and ALWAYS
prepared . . . Our Dad, the bestest
Scout EVER!!!

Sam AMAZINGLY sat and
supported Luke for FOUR hours
at his post selling popcorn!!!

Yes, family, friends, and neighbors,

be prepared.  Our handsome Scout

will be out and about selling

the corny corn.

Fall . . . is in the air?!?

Any guesses?!?  Yep!  This guy will soooon

be making his debut and I cannot wait.  I

am a lover of all things fall!!!  Someone 

asked me the other day if it was cooling 

off here.  I was only too excited to reply

that it gets down to 70* here at night!!

70?!? It is 30* at night here . . . To a

desert rat, 70* is pretty.darn.cool.

Anyhow, our crew is excitedly 

anticipating the cooler temps!

. . . much easier on my little golfers,

campers, and outdoorsmen.  I am

excited for pumpkins . . . 

evening walks . . . pumpkin

bread . . . pots of chili . . .

In other news, my Luke earned his

hunting license today!!  He is 

one excited guy and touts that there

is a deer in his near future!! 

Really?!? My sweet, sensitive

Luke?!?  A big congrats and

excited for hunting season to

open!!!

Still Wicked Excited.

Today I was still "defying gravity", walking

on clouds, and listening to my "Wicked"

music all.day.loooong.  The boys around our

home thought that they had heard enough, 

but seriously, I.am.in.love.with that

musical.  We had such a blast!  It was great

just thinking about it all.day.long.

MIKE UPDATE:  After only 3 1/2 hours

in slumberland, I stumbled jumped out of

the haystack and accompanied my 

dear husband at the cardiologist's office.

The docs are bound and determined to

get this blood pressure down.  We

loved our new cardiologist!!  At this

point, he is going to try patches in

combination with the medication in 

an attempt to lower the blood pressure.

I am saying the biggest prayer over

these patches!!!

Wicked.

 Wickedly amazing!!!  "Wicked"

is playing in Las Vegas.  They

held a lottery two hours before the

show.  One hundred and thirty four

people showed up to put their

names in to win tickets to see

Wicked. 

 Luke was one of the victims people

who was really excited to go down

and fill out a ticket for the big

drawing!!!

 There were people EVERYWHERE

waiting to get into the lottery!!!

 "Official" Lottery Entry Form!!!

 Yessiree, my peeps were REALLY

excited to go down in the heat

to win tickets to my most favorite

Broadway play . . . ever!!!

 Zach and Drea even came down to

fill out tickets to win!

After we filled out the tickets we

waited excitedly to see if we were winners!!

 They mixed up the tickets in a 

big witches' cauldron over and over

and over and over and over and over

again . . . 

 I was the FIRST name that they

called out . . . only TEN people

won tickets!!!  The people around

me lost their hearing  clapped excitedly

when my name was called!!!

Front row orchestra tickets . . .

Win! Win! Win!!!

Pretty exciting day for this chick!!!

Encouragement.

 Truthfully, I.do.not.know. just where we

would be without our fantabulous family

and friends . . . 

 . . . our cheerleaders . . . 

 . . . our support team . . .

 Seriously, our home is filled, filled, filled

with cards and notes of encouragement

from so many of our most treasured

people.

 God certainly surrounded us with 

a.m.a.z.i.n.g people and we are

so grateful!!!!

We all knock each other down to

go to the mailbox.  I think that our

mailman may be a wee bit jealous!!!

Love, love, love you all so very

much!!  You will NEVER know

how much your kindness towards

our family has meant!!!

This scripture melts my heart and

certainly holds true in this case:

"For I was hungry and you gave me

something to eat, I was thirsty and 

you gave me something to drink, I was

a stranger and you invited me in, I 

needed clothes and you clothed me, I

was sick and you looked after me, I was

in prison and you came to visit me. . . .

The King will reply, I tell you the 

truth, whatever you did for one

of the least of these brothers of mine,

you did for me."

Cozy as a Bed Bug.

And.THIS.is.why.I.make.quilts!!

Mike Update:  Today we visited

our fantabulous doc.  Mike's blood

pressure is most definitely a 

concern.  Today is was 191/108.

Unfortunately, that is a very serious

side effect of adrenal gland cancer.

The tumors drive that blood

pressure up, up, up, in spite of the

fact that he is on FIVE medications

to keep it down.  Our doc 

recommended that we see a 

cardiologist to see if he could

work on getting the blood pressure

down.  We are going to be seeing

him on Friday.  Meanwhile, we

are continuing our clinical trial,

PRAYING continuously, and 

working together each and every

moment of each and every day.

Withdrawls.

Yessiree!  Our crew loves a good old

fashioned birthday weekend!!  My, oh, my

it is d.i.f.f.i.c.u.l.t. to come down!!

Tonight we all looked at each other at 

the same time and screamed 

BROWNIES!  I quickly mixed up a

batch and when we were done eating

tons of the batter . . . we baked the

rest in the pan.

I say that this is the best possible

way to let ourselves down from

a birthday celebration weekend.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Happy, happy, happy birthday to my 

Sam.  I truly must have blinked or 

something.  I cannot believe that my

guy is 17 years old.  Where or where . . .

We have had a fantabulous weekend

celebrating the big 1.7.  Everyone

ate boneless chicken wings and

potato wedges and chocolate cake

until it was coming out of their

ears.  Today we spent time at one

of our fave spots . . . Red Rock 

Hotel.  We ate some yummy food 

and then we actually got our Dad

to stay for TWO movies.  It is HARD

to get him to sneak into a second

movie, but he took one for the

team in honor of the special 

occasion.

We are so grateful for our Sam.

He is my right arm and I am

so thankful that he is mine,

mine, mine.

Happy, happy . . . 

And the Celebrating Begins . . .

Birthday weekend began with a bang . . . 

Any celebration requires tons and tons

of yummy food.  Sam had been salivating

all.week.long over these wings.

One happy, happy birthday camper . . . 

. . . birthday camper #2 had a wonderful

day as well.

A pretty handsome crew was on the

scene to participate in the festivities.

It was so fun having everyone today!

Zach and Drea were excited to help

the guys celebrate . . .

. . . okay Zach REALLY got into

the celebrating!!!

My #4 is a lover of anything dipped

in ranch dressing!!!

All birthday celebrations include 

"Present Time"!  Sam was so full

after consuming a bazillion wings . . . 

He could barely move!!!

Happy, happy, happy birthday

Sam and Bobby!

And.many.many.more!