Bubba Graduates!

One good thing about Mitch always having to travel is the perks... Frequent Flyer Miles!  We were able to dip into my stash of miles... ( I say my stash, because these miles that we have collected have big plans of taking us to Europe next Summer )  Anyway, we cashed some in on two round trip tickets to Atlanta Georgia!  We then got a car and drove down to Fort Benning.  We were so happy to have the chance to get to see Bubba graduate from boot camp!  He lost 25 pounds, but somehow looks bigger!  We met up with his parents and also got to meet Bubba's Stake President who had only positive things to say about him.  In short, they love him a lot!

The ceremony was amazing.  All the gun fire and smoke bombs, really made you feel how real the war is.  I have always been a very patriotic person.  My favorite subject in school was American History of any kind...  Being there around all those boys could bring tears to your eye's thinking about all the sacrifice that has gone on before us so that we can enjoy the freedoms we do.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ it's also moving to think about this free land that we have been so blessed to live in... There was a plan, and watching it unfold is amazing to me.  Bubba is now apart of something huge!  Bigger than I think we realize when we think about our military.  I am so proud to be an American, and today and everyday, so proud to have a Man like Bubba in our family and apart of our lives.  We love you Bubba!  Stay Safe!

FHE

Tonight we decided to go to Walmart and dig through the 5 dollar bin for a movie to watch, and of course a healthy dinner to boot!  OK, maybe not so healthy!  McDonald's dollar menu on the way out!  We were dirty, and not looking our best that's for sure, but as I was telling Steph on the way in... I think we blended right into our surroundings!  Of course we would run into people we knew... Isn't that how it works?  When looking your worst out in public you run into everyone you know.  It just so happened that I had a small photo shoot for the newest Eagle scout in our ward so I had my camera with me... My lucky family!  Smile, say cheese!

Yahoo, look at these choices!

Having fun even on a simple run to Walmart is what I call good times! 

Our Baby Turns 14!!

Ronnie is one lucky girl.  She has made a life time of really cashing in on birthdays that never end!  Since Stephanie would be leaving us for Samoa, we decided to still take our annual trip to Disneyland in the month of June.  School is out and as you all know... It's hot like an oven here in AZ during the Summer months so we always schedule ourselves to leave.  Since Ron's birthday lands on June 19th we seem to always just do a birthday here at Disneyland so she can celebrate it with her bestie Lily!

Um ignore the stranger in the back please!  Anyway, it was ton's of fun to get to just run around with Ronnie and her Opa!  We were able to open the park, which means we were the first ones in and did a count down to letting the rest of the guests in.  Our goal was to count down and then run to Star Tours as they just re-opened that ride!  Brand new... So you can imagine it was every one's goal.  What a stampede to the end of Main street where they held us back for some more fun in a huge crowd waiting for the rope to drop and another mad dash.  We finally made it, and YES... we were one of the first on that awesome ride!

The new Star Tours ride is in 3-D...  54 different rides on your space shuttle to experience...

Was she spoiled?  Well she is the baby...  You might expect any average birthday would end there, but since we did only have one kid with us, why end it?  So that Saturday we took a trip to Las Vegas... More birthday fun.  We like to call this kind of event BIRTHDAY GRA... introduced to us by the Nethingtons.  So yes, we have some one to blame for all this madness!  While at Vegas we would take Ronnie to see "Viva Elvis" the best darn show I have seen in like FOREVER!  It was so fun to watch Ronnie.  Her behavior was Super Elvis fan with a twist of fourteen year old crush all wrapped up into the cutest girl ever!

Two biggest Elvis Fan's ever!

 I think the only other Elvis Fan there that could have held a candle to my Ronnie was of course... My Mom!
Ron got all her birthday presents from her family in that cute little Elvis STUFF store located conveniently right outside of the theater...  Who could resist all the super cool stuff available in that dang store?  Not us!
HA! What a birthday gra, but the gra doesn't end with Elvis... No, not at all, we then took the party back to Arizona for a little friend pool party!  Some fun games, pizza, and a cool dip in an awesome pool was the end to this crazy birthday gra.... We love you Ronnie!  Your such a good girl!  I know a certain Uncle would say... "It must be your name!"

Chooooo Hooooo Ronnie's 14!

Fathers Day!!

So trying to figure out a wonderful Fathers Day for a Dad who certainly deserved it was hard this year!  We all just kept comparing every idea to that fabulous Mothers Day that the girls did for me.  You know restoring a child hood tandem bike and a much needed camera accessory was hard to beat!  So did we beat it?  NO...  If money was no object I know exactly what I would get...  2400.00 later my guy would have been the best looking mountain biker out there.  Some day we will do it, he deserves it for sure and is really good at mountain biking!  His bike is so old!  So what did we do you ask?  Yes, the poor have to get creative.  There is a particular dinner that I made for him before actually getting married because he loved it.  I on the other hand think it's awful, so what happens after tying the knot?  Yep all that show stuff gets tossed out the window!  So for the past 19 years asking for Stroganoff has turned into kind of a joke, and so creative we got!  Stroganoff it was!

We also got him a couple of movies for Sunday... His favorite day of the week!  And of course there was always US included in the package!  What a lucky man!

Someday soon...  A MOUNTAIN BIKE will be the gift of choice!  That will be a fun day!

Steph makes it home from Samoa!

Super happy to have our Stephanie come home to us!  She had many stories, and ton's of pictures to go through with us.  What a lucky girl to have been able to learn all that she did, and to have such wonderful people in her life and family that took such good care of her while she was there.

She brought many gifts home but my favorite was the koko.  She purchased it in Western Samoa, and had to carry it all over the island after that.  At first I thought she could have bought more, until I actually felt the weight of that bag!  Poor thing!  Needed a bag with rollers for that stuff...

I can't wait for the day when I can go there with all my girls!

Steph leaves for Samoa!

Super excited for our Steph (and of course Gab's too)  These two girls got to take a trip of a life time back to see their heritage, and where it all started!  For Gab it's a graduation present, and for Steph she has been saving up for this trip.  Yep, paid for the whole thing all on her own, and that's no small thing as a round trip ticket to Samoa is about 1600.00 plus all her spending money to boot.  We are super proud of her, and for the choices she has been making lately.  Steph is one good girl, and her father and I sure feel blessed to have had her sent to us!  Stephanie will be spending 2 weeks over on the rock... and during that time she will also be taking a small plane ride to Western Samoa where her great grandmother is from.  I can't wait to post pictures of her adventure! 

As for Ronnie and I... as soon as we get our last show out of the way, we are headed to Disneyland, and then Las Vegas, and then YES... Back to the beach before coming back to prepare for Nauvoo and girls camp!