Day 212 - Saturday, July 31

I can't tell you how much fun I have had getting to know Darla and the girls or just how comfortable I felt with them from the moment they got here. What a blessing to not only have a great "blogging" friend, but a sister in Christ and a true friend.

Are they cute or what?
truly beautiful inside and out!

Jason was at work and didn't get in the picture.
Jared is enjoying the odds! ha!

saying "goodbye"...till next time!

Day 211 - Friday, July 30

today was SO FUN!
The girls slept in and I took Darla up to see our church
Then I took them sightseeing around LR.

here the girls are at the top of the Peabody.....
....a little heart stopping to look down!
We then did a bit of shopping...just a bit.

It was incredibly hot out, so we came home, BBQ'd burgers and swam for a while.
We finished off the day with a hysterical game of Apples to Apples

this was a great day!

Day 210 - Thursday, July 29

The girls heading to the Justin B. concert.
they enjoyed sleeping in, shopping and hanging out today!

This is what I made for dinner....Carne Asada!!!
Sooo good, especially with the homemade tortillas I brought home!!!
Go here for the recipe!

Day 209 - Wednesday, July 28

my friend, Darla, came in tonight so I made a blueberry cake for them!!

Go here for the recipe.

Day 208 - Tuesday, July 27

What happens when you leave 3 boys home by themselves for 7 days?

Ugh! those would be peaches...they were on my counter.
It would probably be why there were over a doz FLIES in my house when I walked in!!!

Day 207 - Monday, July 26

This is my last day in Tucson..
So, I had to have my favorite treat one last time...
....a pina colada eegee's!!
And also pick up 4 doz of my favorite homemade tortillas to take home...they were still warm when I bought them!

Day 206 - Sunday, July 25

mom and I took my nephew to breakfast this morning..

...what a goof! :)

It was great to spend time with him and we had an awesome breakfast!

Day 205 - Saturday, July, 24

Well, we found MORE pictures...
....I'm wondering if it will ever end!
But this one was so cool. It was labeled on the back. This is one of my relatives on my dad's side of the family and this is his very FIRST car. Not only that, but it was the FIRST car EVER in his town in Alabama!!! Pretty amazing!

Day 204 - Friday, July 23

We had lunch today with a friend of my moms. She has the most impressive and beautiful garden in her back yard. What a thrill to explore it and see all she is growing.

She served us lunch that was made completely from her garden!
deelish!!!
My mom, brother and I had dinner tonight. My was happy to have her kids to herself for one night...can you tell?

Day 203 - Thursday, July 22

Mom and I spent the last 2 days going through probably 1000 photos. We weeded them out, put them in groups and then took them this afternoon to a place that is going to scan them all in (all 500 of them) for us. What fun we have had reminiscing, laughing and crying at old photos! But I am glad it is done, my neck hurts!! Now on to the next project.

Day 202 - Wednesday, July 21

Happy Anniversary to my Sweet Heart!!!

26 wonderful years!

but I am in Arizona with my mom.

One thing I love about being here is that we have fun together in the kitchen!!

This is our dinner tonight....

Crab Louie!!!

this was soooo good.

go here for the recipe!!

Day 201 - Tuesday, July 20

 

 Went power walking with my neighbor tonight...

 ..she about killed me.

especially when she took me up "glut hill"!

I am going to need this advil!!!

Day 200 - Monday, July 19

On the road again...ugh!

Taking Jared to band camp for the week.

I forgot to take a picture of him...oh well!

Day 199 - Sunday, July 18

ya...this would be premature gloating with pretzel "cigars".

directly after this Jason was euchred on a loner!!!

and then Jared and I won the game!!!

..it never pays to gloat!

Day 198 - Saturyday, July 17

my last view of the lake before our 11+ hour drive home.

Day 197 - Friday, July 16

Today we got our last lake time and then I had the pleasure of a short visit with a sweet friend.  but I couldn't leave Indiana without these.....

...the best blueberries ever!!

I am taking 30 lbs home to freeze and I also grabbed a bunch of blueberry honey while I was there.....my kids will be very happy!

We ended the evening with a BBQ and just hanging and visiting around a fire pit....perfect.

Day 196 - thursday, July 15

the guys golfed today, the ladies hung out on the boat, one guy had to fly to Las Vegas to catch a bad guy and didn't make it back in time for dinner at Carrabas.

Day 195 - Wednesday, July 14

this is mostly what we did all day today.......loved it!

Max thinks he's one of us!

We did a little snoozing too!

Day 194 - Tuesday, July 13

it was a VERY relaxing day today by the lake

some jet skiing, some boating, but mostly relaxing!!!

it ended with another sunset cruise around the lake with yummy appetizers.

Day 193 - Monday, July 12

since we were staying up at my friends lake house,

my friend Tori got a bunch of ladies together for lunch.

I miss this women so much!!!

and our 2+ hour lunch was way too short!!

sunset cruise on the lake with best friends

of course you have to have appetizers!!!!

Day 192 - Sunday, July 11

after church today, we got on the road to Indiana

11 1/2 hour drive....ugh!

This sunset was so amazing, my camera did not do it justice

Day 191 - Saturday, July 10

 I should be packing since I am leaving to visit some friends tomorrow, but instead I was canning spaghetti sauce with my friend Wendi.  I had so many tomatoes that would have gone bad while I was gone and it is pretty much a sin to lose a homegrown tomato!!!

I think I will be up late tonight!

Day 190 - Friday, July 9

I love my neighbors!!!!

Day 189 - Thursday, July 8

I was so excited to get to meet and have dinner with Mama Belle today!!!  Her family is vacationing about an hour from us and so my husband and I drove there to meet them!!  After seeing them in pictures, it is sooooo fun to meet them face to face!!

And of course we had to have a picture to reminisce the great Eye Brow War!!

Day 188 - Wednesday, July 7

The youth group had a pool party at our house tonight.

Very fun!  I love it when they come over.

Day 187 - Tuesday, July 6

We support Young Life.

This week they have a large group of teens at camp.

This band reminds me to pray for one teen while they are there!!

I thought this was a great idea!!

Day 186 - Monday July 5

This part never gets easier.

We said goodbye to Alyssa this morning.  

We probably won't see her till Christmas. 

It's going to be a tough day.

Day 185 - Sunday, July 4

What a great day!!  We had so much fun!

We invited 5 families over after church for a BBQ and swimming.  Great food, great friends...what could be better?  How about God showing up in a big way?  While we were in the pool playing volley ball, one of the women looked down and realized her engagement ring had come off.  We quickly turned off the pump in the pool and everyone started looking.  But we could not find the ring in the pool, which really worried me.  If it had been flung off while playing, it could be anywhere in the bushes and shrubs and the likelihood of us finding it was pretty small.  After looking for quite a while, I stopped everyone and said let's pray.  So, I said a quick prayer asking God to help us find this ring (the husband was looking a bit nauseous!).  It wasn't 2 minutes when my daughter and her friend yelled "we found it!".  It had been flung off her finger clear over to the foundation of the house...a good 10+ feet away.  We never would have looked there, but the girls were going in the house and it caught their eye......yea God!!!

Day 184 - Saturday, July 3

made pioneer woman's blackberry ice cream 
oh so good!

then it was time for a rousing family game of wiffle ball pool soccer

it can get a little rough

and always competitive!

there is "no holding" in the game

she is so holding my face!!!!

Lily can't stand it and ends up joining us!!!

this was a great day!