TURKEY DAY AT GRAMMY'S . . .

Grammy and Grandpa John, or as Rilyn says "Papa John" went to their place down in Mexico for Thanksgiving weekend so we had an early turkey day at their house before they left!! It was a nice, relaxing afternoon and the food was amazing, as it always is at Grammy's house!!!

It was a beautiful day, so Rilyn, Grammy & I went out on the back patio to enjoy and blow some bubbles!!!

GIRL'S PIE BAKING DAY . . .

Well last year we wanted to get all us girls (Momma, Lay, Lorie & Me) together and bake all the pie's for Thanksgiving dinner but the time slipped away and we just never made it happen, so Mom & Lay got stuck doing it all by themselves, which from the stories we've heard they had a blast doing it and I was bummed I missed out on all the fun!! So this year there was talk about the same plan of a girls pie baking day and when we found out we were going to have Grandma in town to help/join us there was no doubt that we were going to find a way to make it happen!! So we scheduled the Sat. before Thanksgiving and all got together at Momma's house to bake us some homemade pie's from scratch, crust and all!!! I have to admit I'm not much of a pie eater so I wasn't so excited about the pies themselves however a girls day with all my most favorite ladies in the whole world just cant be passed up!! We had so so so much fun hanging in the kitchen together, laughing, telling stories and learning all kinds of little helpful kitchen tips from Grandma!! And I must say that we had the best and most handsome bartender in the whole world, Grandpa, serving us up some White Russians (one of my most favorite cocktails this time of year) and the best part is all he required for a tip was a kiss .. cant beat that!!! Then later that afternoon the guys came over with the kiddos and we all had dinner and hung out!! Nothing better than storytime with Great Grandma ... all the kids took turns on her lap either reading her stories or her reading them stories!! I can remember all the years I spent sitting on that very same lap listening to story after story!!


It really was an extra special day that we will remember and cherish forever and ever ... thank you Momma for making this happen!!! Hopefully we can talk Grandpa & Grandma into coming back next year and do it all over again!! Oh and I am now officially hooked on Pecan Pie!!!

CRAZY FUN WEEKEND . . .

Once again here I sit on a Monday morning playing blog catchup and trying to figure out where exactly to start ... hahaa ... so we're going back to last weekend and 4 days straight of go go go fun and excitement!!!



JIMMIE JAM:

Clay got 4 tickets to Jimmie Jam, the Lowe's Nascar Driver's pre Nascar party which is at a small venue in downtown Scottsdale with live music and free drinks again this year so Thursday night Clay, Me, Lay & Cody went and had us a good ol' time!!! The kiddos spent the night at Grammy's, so Clay and I decided to make a night of it and grabbed some dinner & margaritas before meeting up with Lay & Cody and heading to the show!! It was an awesome night and a great kik start to the crazy weekend we had ahead of us . . .








JUST LIVIN' OUR LOVE SONG:

On Friday, Clay and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary which this year was 11-11-11, pretty cool!!! We decided to go out and do a little night fishing on the fishing boat this year to celebrate!! Lay, Cody & Cheify also joined us on their boat and although we didn't catch anything but a buzz .. haaa .. we still had a great time fishin, talkin, drinkin and jammin tunes!!! Its amazing and the greatest feeling ever to be married seven years and be more in love today than we were the day we said "I Do" ... love you baby and Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Beautiful sunset on the water!!

WEDDING:

Next came Saturday morning when we were up bright and early and off to Grandma's so that Clay could pick up the kids and I could jump in Momma's car to go get Lacey and then the 3 of us were headed off to Yuma for my cousins (well not exactly my 1st cousin, but still) wedding in Yuma, while Clay stayed home with the kids and tickets to take the boys to Nascar on Sunday, did I mention 4 days of go go go fun!!! So I just have to say that my mom and my sister are 2 of my most favorite people in the whole wide world and when you get the 3 of us together there is no doubt that fun, laughter & much excitement are in store no matter what we are doing. So with that being said I was very excited for our road trip to of all places our home town Yuma, AZ!! Our first stop of course being Mr. G's, no doubt, where we not only ate lunch but of course ordered extra's for later!! Next was the grocery store to stock our room and just in the knick of time (running late ... not us ... never!!!) got checked into our room to change and get ready for the wedding!!! The wedding was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and was at the church that my family (I'm talking my grandparents, my mom and all my aunts growing up, and me and my brother and sister) attended for years and years, until we moved!! It was pretty cool and brought back lots of memories. Then came the reception, which was just as if not more beautiful than the wedding, which was held at the hotel we were staying in!! My Aunt Judy & Cousin Alis also came down from Vegas and my Grandma & Grandpa came down from San Diego for the weekend so it was fun getting to see and visit with all of them as well!! The reception was a blast getting to see all of our extended family and some old friends we havent seen in years along with of course getting our dance on!!! Congratulations to Katie & Richard!!


Alis, Me & Lay!!

My Grandparents .... love them so so so much!!

At the reception Katie did one of my very favorite things, where they have all married couples get out on the dance floor and the DJ starts eliminating couples by how many years they have been married .... my grandparents of course won with a whole 64 years under their belt!!! Woooweee go Grandpa & Grandma!!

NASCAR:

On Sunday Clay took the boys to Nascar and they met up with Bradley, Lorie & Corey at the races ... this was Trey & Rhett's very 1st time and although I wasn't there to experience it with them from what I hear they loved it!! Once I got home from Yuma they told me all about it and it sounds like they had a blast!! Once again I sent Clay with the camera and made him promise he would snap a few pictures ... and once again he came through!! So glad the boys got to go to the races and had such a great time!!

Uncle Bradley & Trey Mo!!

Clay said it didn't take long at all and Trey had it all figured out watching the tower to keep track of which cars were in what place!! This didn't surprise me one bit!!

So there it is .... our crazy weekend on the go!!! Now on to the next ... LOL!!! This crazy thing we call life!!

WOOD CHOPPIN' AND SHOPPIN' . . .

Clay and my brother bought permits to go up north and chop wood for our fireplaces this year and it just so happened that a storm hit the night and morning of their planned excursion!!! I planned on going shopping with my mom & sister for the day while Clay took the older kids with him to help gather wood. Even though there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground, the weather was crappy and everyone froze their butty's off ... it was still a successful mission and we have had a fire in our living room every night since (one or maybe I should say the only thing I love about winter along with the holidays!!)!!!

Here is the whole crew getting ready to leave . . .

All the kiddos ... so excited!!!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

This is what makes it all worth it in the end!!! I can say that cause I wasn't there ... haaahaaa!!
By the looks of all the snow on the ground and the dark clouds hovering in the background, I'm sure glad I wasn't a part of this little excursion ... hahaaa ... have I mentioned how much I hate the cold!!!

SHOPPIN':

Me and my favorite ladies, Momma, Lacey & Rilyn Kate, had a fun filled day of shopping and then grabbed a bite to eat and some margaritas at one of my new favorite restaurants, Plaza Bonita!! It was so much fun getting to hang with the girls and actually do some shopping without dragging 3 kids along with me ... hahaaa!! The only bummer to our day was when we went to leave the store and my truck wouldn't start ... she was dead dead wouldn't even start with a jump!! So we had to call Kris who was thankfully available to come pick us up and take us back to Lacey's house so we could get her truck which wasted a good 2hours of our day probably, but o'well like Normy always says "If its got tits or tires it will give you problems" hahaaaaa ... love Normy and his one liners!! Gotta love Rilyn's "cheeeesssseeeeeeeeeee"!!!!!!!!!




Hahaaaa ... Grandma kept stealing Rilyn's mimi and she was cracking up big time!!!

TRICK OR TREAT . . .

"The Vampiress"
"The Mario Brothers"

"Minnie Mouse"

We hit up the Fowler's neighborhood again this year for Trick or Treating fun ... such a cool neighborhood and the kids scored big time in the candy department!! Rilyn got off to a rough start ... when at the 2nd house we went to the lady passing out the candy had on a super creepy mask ... she went up to say trick or treat and saw that mask and FREAKED out big time, latched on to me with a grip I have never felt!! After that for about 10 or so houses I had to carry her up to the door until finally she was comfortable enough to go by herself ... hahaaaaa ... she's not a big fan of all the scary stuff and spiders that go along with Halloween!!

Rilyn, just like last year, refused any help with her bag and towards the end of the night was literally dragging it behind her .. hahaaa ... Clay & I kept telling her that she better pick it up or she is going to get a hole in it and loose all her candy, but she didn't believe us and sure enough it didn't take long and she was leaving a trail of candy behind her!!!

When we got back from Trick or Treating, Tony had homemade pizza ready for us to eat straight out of his wood burning pizza oven ... yum yum!! Thanks to the Fowler's for once again letting us come over and use the hood and feeding us!! Happy Halloween!!

DADDY'S BIRTHDAY . . .

For Clay's birthday we had a little family get together at our house and Grammy brought out our favorite dinner, Chicken & Dumplings (which we get once a year on Clays birthday) as well as her homemade cake ... and all I can say is YUM YUM it was delicious as always and we look forward to this every year!!! I decided it would be the perfect time to carve our pumpkins as well since we didn't have our annual pumpkin carving party this year. It turned out to be the perfect afternoon and evening visiting with family on a low key relaxed level!!

All the kids did a great job on their pumpkins and didn't need much help at all this year!! Trey was on a mission and hard at work most of the afternoon!! Rilyn sat with Grammy and once her pumpkin was all cleaned out she pretty much just stabbed the poor little pumpkin to death!!!


Grammy and the boys!!
Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Clay's new bbqin apron from my mom ... hahaaaa ... love it Momma, perfect!!
Trey Mo & Grandma!!
The cake ... love the pumpkin face Grammy!!
Once it was dark we lit up everyone's pumpkins!!! Pretty nice work everyone!!!
Happy Birthday Baby ... I Love You!!