"Milk comes from cows, definitely cows, and they will kill you!!" Will

Last Friday, (yes, that is right, I am only a week behind), we went to Superstition Farm with my friend from High School, Heidi, and her four children as well. We had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about where milk, cheese and ice cream come from.
First, you have to get the children drunk and then EVERYONE has a great time! he he (don't come arrest me, that is quality beer of root!!)

My pictures are backwards, because I am really lazy tonight.... so let's begin at the ending.... the kids were really, really hot at the end of their farm fun, so the farmer sprayed them down with his garden hose... And the kids absolutely loved it!!!

Singin' in the rain...

Yup, a regular old garden hose does the trick everytime!

I love when these boys actually get along and even like each other a bit. Here Lund was gingerly passing the chicken/rooster? to his brother..

awwww.. aren't they being soo gentle!

Lund really liked this chicken and they are looking a bit like each other in this picture!!

Cassidy, on the other hand, perferred the horse variety.

All of us hanging out with the horsies!

Horses have always intrigued me, and scared me a bit as well. They are magnificent, and and a bit terrifying!

..............but my daughters have always been horse lovers. They loved to ask me in Bagdad, "Can I have a horse for my birthday?" To which I would reply, "Mommy doesn't know how to take care of a horse or walk them or whatever, maybe we can just keep one in your room and see what happens...." Instead, we have had various other "weird" pets which include, but are not limited to: 2 ball pythons (4 ft long each), 1 hairless rat, 5 other rats, 1 tarantuala (I nixed this pet after 1 day, instead we pawned it off to the missionary from England who was ESTATIC!), numerous dogs, numerous cats, 1 bird, 4 turtles or tortoises.... and a partridge in a pear tree!!!!

This goat didn't even wait for Will to get the food out of the container...

ahhhhh haaaaaa!!! Cassidy caught a chicken as it ran by!

And, let's end at the beginning.... The hay ride and my two children that are "too cool for school"

Will really enjoyed sitting on the "grass things"..............

Here we are listening and learning all about cows and their marvelous by-product... o.k. I am not out of words, just look at pictures for a little while and be satisfied!!! he he he

Visiting Jazzlyn at Phoenix Children's Hospital

Jazzlyn, (Cassidy's friend with Leukemia), wasn't able to be in the 4th of July parade with us because she was still at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Her blood counts weren't high enough to leave, so we went to see her there on our way back to Gilbert. The kids really enjoyed being able to see her and to help by painting a picture for her hospital room.
Here they are with their finished artwork. They all contributed some...and it came together beautifully!

Jazzlyn was explaining to the kids why she gets "Beads of courage" during treatment. The different colored beads mean different things, black beads mean being poked by needles, white beads for a night in the hospital, etc..

She had A LOT of beads because she has been fighting Leukemia since November. On a side note, Jazzlyn and I were diagnosed with cancer on the same day, November 2nd. (A day she and I will never forget!)

The kids did a great job working together... I was very proud of them!!
I also dropped off a "Team Courage" hat to her, so here we are with our matching hats! She is sooo adorable!

The kids didn't want to leave, but it was time for Jazzlyn to go back to her room.

Keep fighting Jazzlyn!! We pray for you daily!!

4th of July afternoon

O.K. I am back to getting up to date on my life..... We proceed with the afternoon of the 4th of July. The town of Bagdad doesn't hold back when it comes to holidays and the best part is... it is always FREE!!! (Well, not free for Freeport McMoran who pays for all the community events).
So, after the awesome parade and some relaxation time (a.k.a. mom took a nap!), we headed to the Community Campus for an afternoon of fun. There were inflatable things doting the whole grass area and even more fun to be had in the pool area. So, enjoy the memories... I know we did!!

Let's get this party started Lund!!! He is wearing the 4th of July shirt I bought for him. See, it has red, white and blue!!!

This is my very determined 7-year-old!!! Watch out world!

And watch as Lund takes a tumble down the huge inflatable slide...

Wahooooooooooooooooooooo!

Tori Pacheco and Lund are so cute together!!! Don't let their cute faces fool you, those two are very, very smart kids!!

You'd never guess it by their goofiness, huh?!!!

And then over in the ring, Cassidy takes on Tori Pacheco. They had so much fun with those huge gloves!

Look at those girls go.............

And this was soooo cute. Sarah took on an older man in the ring!!! But when she has gloves on, watch out!!! Thanks for being such a great sport Bryce!

Can you guess what Will wanted to do all day??? That's right...eat snow cones!!! he was on #4 here!

Oh, how I love these two!!!

And Will loves to hang out with his "Grandpa Four!!! (Thor Anderson)" We sure love those Andersons!

Here is Will holding all of his loot after the swim games were done!!! They sure raked it in!

Sarah was in the middle of a relay race where you put a shirt on and then race through the pool. She is a bit compettitive!

And here goes Lund with the shirt on racing through the water!

And here is Cassidy waiting for her brother/team member on her side of the pool. She is really tan this summer, she definitely has her daddies skin color!

Sarah in the pool with some of her friends...

My crazy monkey... just put on a life jacket and some goggles and he is unstoppable!! (Which is must better than last summer when I couldn't peel him off my side all summer)

One of those days....

8:30am: Will comes into my room, "wake up! it is wake up time! I am HUNGRY!"

10:15am "Mom, where is the vacuum?" Cassidy yells down the hall. I go out to and see sugar spilled all over the floor, couch and labtop. "what?" I ask.... "Well" Cassidy begins her story, "Sarah knocked me into the cup of sugar and I knocked it over." hummmmm... I ask the general population of children surrounding me, "why was there a cup full of sugar next to the couch?" No response...... Later, Lund fesses up that he was the one who was eating sugar spoonful by sugary spoonful out of a cup and sitting on the couch watching TV. o.k..............hummm..............

11:10am After watching all my kids in their first day of swim/dive lessons, I am actually sweating bullets, well, just big drops of sweat anyway. The dive coach calls me over and tells me in front of Lund and Cassidy that they need to be in beginning dive team instead of intermediate dive team. I tell him that they can do front flips and back flips off the diving board. He tells me that they don't have any form. "Oh" I remark....."o.k. what do you want me to do?" "Well" the 18ish-year-old instructor that acts like he just got off a surfboard tells me, "Yea, today was pretty much a waste of my time! They need to be in the beginning class."
So, I work with the lady in the office and she helps me to switch Lund and Cassidy to a different dive team and also helps me get Sarah and Will in the same time frame. thank you office lady!

11:45am We get to the elementary school near my mom's house to eat our free lunch and after I get the kids out of the van, Will just stands there and pees his pants all over the ground. He looks up at me and says, "I was tired." hummmmmm....... So, I completely change him in the van and then when we finally get to the school office, they tell us that the school lunch program is over for the summer.

1:10pm I am laying on the table at radiation and the radiation tech is looking at my chest and he isn't very happy. "How did the tape I put on come off?" .."Well,.." I reply.."The tape ripped my skin off, so it just came off I guess." He tells me that he is giong to have to get mean with me and stop being so nice...hummmmm. Then they proceed to rip the rest of the tape off, (and more skin) and reapply more tape over my hurt skin, (ouch). And now I have new tape on... and it is coming off too... Tomorrow is going to be fun.

2:30pm I am at Gilbert Parks and Recreation turning in "proof of residency" so that I can sign up for classes for the kids for fall the next day at 8am. The gentleman at the desk tells me that I need 2 forms of residency and that he would put a note on my account until I had two forms turned in. I told him that we didn't have anything else yet because we weren't into the house yet. I am starting to wonder who is committing "residency fraud" just to sign up two days early for recreation classes...hummmmmm
Then I ask him if I could get onto one of the adult sports leagues..."which one? volleyball, softball or basketball?" I reply that I will play any of the above.. "They are all full!" he responds. "For the rest of the year?" I question.. "Yeah, for the whole year." arggggg!!!

3:30pm While driving back to the appartment the kids are fighting again (it is almost unbearable lately), and Cassidy just starts crying. She just can't handle the life stress anymore. They didn't ask for a whole change of life. They didn't ask for a mom with cancer. They didn't ask for a life of appartment living with no friends for two months.... they didn't ask for this......

4:00pm Will sits his poopy bum all over the clean laundry and couch. Hey, at least he went poop in the toilet, now we just need to master the wiping part.

....But, before you thing I am totally Debbie Downer...read the last entry

6:00pm I get a phone call. It is Edu-prize Charter school. I had put my kids into the lottery for enrollment, not thinking they would ever make it in, at least for a couple of years. This is one of those schools that people place their kids on a waiting list when they are born. And if they have open spots, they are drawn from a lottery of hopeful children. Well, guess what? They were trying to fill a last couple of spots and they drew out Cassidy's name. And as luck would have it, they have a "sibling policy" and so all my kids got in!!! hippppp hoorray!!!! And even better, they start school next Thursday...wahoooo, and their schedule is from 11am-4pm everyday. How awesome is that?!!! Now I just need to locate some school clothes for them and round up ther immunization records and birth certificates, which might be hard considering they are in storage.....somewhere!

The Bagdad 4th of July experience--- small town parades are the BEST!!

Here is one example of our "Team Courage" hats! Beautiful!

I was honored this 4th of July to be invited to be a Grand Marsal in the Bagdad 4th of July parade! The theme for the Bagdad 4th activities was "Courage, America" and so myself, (stage 3 cancer), Jazzlyn Urrenda (an 11-year-old with leukemia), and Tranise Trout (lymphoma cancer) were the lead in the parade. My sister Becky helped by making some "Team Courage" hats that were sooo stinkin' cute!!! We decorated the float the day before and the kids were sooo excited to get to sit on the float and throw candy. Sarah and Cassidy even decorated bikes that they rode beside the float.

The pictures aren't exactly in order...but life is just that way...

You know your at a small town parade when you see the Volunteer Fire Dept. come rolling along!

Lund is hanging out with his buddies----William Webster, Israel Loveall, and Dax Leone.

Here is everyone hanging out in the float after the parade waiting to ride back up the street. Can you see that the Scouts were hitching rides back up the street instead of walking back?

This is Will after the parade, he looked down and said, "Wow, throwing candy in the parade made me soooo tired!" Poor child, we work him sooo hard!

Here is Sarah at the completion of the parade, she rode the whole time like a champ.

And an exhausted Cassidy after the parade was over!

Here we are before the parade started. Jazzlyn couldn't make it because she was at Phoenix Children's hospital for a while. her blood counts are too low. Morgan got to be the driver and Tranise and I stayed in the shade so we wouldn't get sunburned.

here is the exuberant Cassidy before the parade began. She wanted to throw candy too, so she rigged a bag to her handlebars.

Here are the proud riders in the Grand Marshal float. Karen Anderson who organized the whole parade and her daughter, Ashley. Also, my kids and Lund's friend Dax, who was staying with us for the day. Thanks guys for helping out!

Sarah getting ready to ride triumphantly down Main street.

Will was sooo funny. He saw William Webster, one of Lund's buddies, getting ready to ride his quad in the parade, and he wanted one sooo badly! He kept going over to see the quad.

Some memorable 4th of July moments: Cassidy and Lund found out that they were giving prizes for the 4k (2.5 miles) in the morning. They woke up early and Morgan took them over to the race. They were the only kids in the race along with Lund's friend Dax, who they brought with them. They had to run the whole time and got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Lund got 1st place and received a 25.00 gift card at Walmart, Dax finished 2nd winning a 15.00 gift card and our awesome Cassidy won 3rd place winning a 10.00 gift card. She ran the whole race in flip flops.... can you believe it!!!!!!! What a determined chica!!! Also, Cassidy spent her whole allowance buying decorations for her bike so she could try to win a prize in the parade as well. She and her sister ended up winning the "decorated bike" category and they got to split a 50.00 gift card. So, as you can see, my kids made out like bandits!!! Pretty awesome!!!

What a memorable 4th!