My weekend....

I had a sleepover with my little munchkin, Abby.  We had lots of fun...

 We tried to make the sun catcher and it didn't quite work out...but had fun trying :)

 Abby painted a picture for her cousin Ashlee, then had a tea party with her stuffed animals.

 No sleepover is complete without visiting my dear neighbors, Buck and Shirley.

 We went over to Aunt Chel's for Ashlee's b-day.  Aren't my mom and aunt cute?

 Who needs toys? They had fun with a hose and water.

 I couldn't help but fall in love with this...they did it after their water fun.

 Kayla fell asleep on the way home within MINUTES of buckling her in.

And poor Abby tried to fight the sleep but just couldn't, so grandma had to hold her head for her.  Do you know how heavy a head can be???

Weekends with the family are always the best.  I spent a few hours with Jared on Saturday, he replaced the battery in my car and then hung out at my house for a few hours.  If our schedules keep us from being together all at once, I am just glad we can see each other at some point :)  Next time, my sister needs to join in on our sleepover.

Happy 4th to you, too!!

Today is the 4th of July, in case you didn't know....and I decided to spend my day with my parents, with a brief stop to see my grandparents.  I had to thank them both for their service to our country; my grandpa was in the military, and my grandma held up the home front with 4 kids :)

Fun fact: this was a flag my grandpa had around the house that I added to their flowers today.

My parents and I went to see "The Heat" today with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy...excellent movie.  I even heard my dad giggle a few times...ha

We stopped for lunch/dinner after the movie....attempted to eat some regular pasta.  Boy was that a bad idea...within an hour I was in terrible pain.  Guess I will be sticking to the gluten-free pasta from now on. Totally NOT worth the splurge...but enjoyed every moment with mom and dad.

Marley is spending the weekend with me while Jared is out of town.  LOVE this picture of the two on the ride home...they were a bit hot but still had to sit right next to each other.

Marley is TERRIFIED of fireworks...any boom and she is immediately by my side or Raji's side.  Should be interesting when we head outside in a few minutes to try to see the Tempe Town Lake fireworks...!!!  I have a feeling we will be sleeping with the radio on tonight so she isn't scared...poor pup!

At camp we like to....

 have dance parties....this current one began when Taylor Swift's song "22" came on the radio...

 We also do some fun arts and crafts....

Our staff like to do inappropriate things with their lunch...ha

 A thumbs up is always fun...especially when it's given in reply to "do you like my new glasses?"

 Thursday we went on a field trip to the AZ Science Center.  Good times.

I can't believe that we are almost half way through camp...it has really flown by.

Father's Day 2013

Today I woke up happy to celebrate this day with my dad...sadly there is always an uncertainty when we get together, not knowing if he is going to be fully aware of everyone around him.  I am stealing the following from my mom's facebook post, because I feel like it really sums up how we all feel going through this, and how we all admire her for her ongoing strength: 

Happy Fathers day to my dad and my husband. Dad- I watched you with mom when she had her Alzheimer's and you showed me how much you loved her with your patience. You had a way of laughing off the silly things like her trying to call us with the remote or trying to change the channel with the phone. I watched the pain in your eyes as she got worse but you never complained. I was almost relieved when she passed because you had a lot of burden lifted off of you and we got the chance to spend more time with you and to grow closer. You will always be my hero and if I can just be a little like you, I feel blessed.
Don- you have always been such a wonderful dad to our kids. I love you more every day and it hurts me so bad to see what you are going through. Forgive me for the days I am short with you. I am trying. Just know I love you very much.

Dad waiting outside while Jared bbq some delicious ribs!!!

Papa and his grandkids

This was too cute!

He must have "forgotten" that he has bad knees...while my nieces were playing he ran over
 and hid so he could scare them! :)

To the best dad I have (hehe),

I know you won't read this, but it is more for me to document events in our lives.  I am so happy you came over today and let us spend time together.  I am beyond thankful that all 3 kids could be together today, along with my mom and the grandkids!  I love days like today when we can relax and let memories be made.  I fear that we will forget some memories, so this blog will serve as our reminder.

I know that times can be tough for you-you sometimes get confused and have no clue what is going on.  I remember my dad before this awful disease; a strong, caring man who always took care of our family.  My dad who coached my softball team almost my whole life; my dad who spent endless hours practicing pitching with me (even if I hated it a bit at the time, but love it now!!); my dad who softly rubs my arm, even as an adult, and makes me feel worthwhile; my dad who showed us what it meant to really work for our money, when we went out every Saturday to help out with landscaping; my dad who made me learn my multiplication facts in 4th grade because I didn't know them, and forced my mom to practice them with me because he didn't always know the answers (he didn't have the privilege of finishing school); my dad who is my hero, no matter what.

First week with camp!

This week began my fifth (or is it sixth now??) year with Camp Challenge.  I absolutely LOVE the first day back to camp...it's like the first day of school except I know most of the returning kids/young adults!   It's only a 7 week camp, Monday through Thursday, which makes it the perfect summer job.  Besides the returning staff, new staff, and amazing "campers" we have!

Many pictured here have gone to came since before I started!

One of our staff makes stars to recognize the positive things her  group accomplishes.  I got my own star :)

She said....

On Saturday I used a gift card given to me by one of my *fabulous* students to a nail salon in Gilbert.  I sat next to a very nice lady who I talked a little bit with (side note, she was getting SUPER long nails put on and told me about how she designs her own nails by watching videos on youtube...not important but just a fun detail).  After a few minutes, she asked where I lived. I kept it pretty generic with "Phoenix".  She proceeded to ask me if I had any "walkers in my life".  Hold it right there.

Walkers, like opposite of runners?  I would consider myself a walker compared to my bro and sis who like to do marathons.  So I kind of laughed to myself and told her I didn't know what a walker was...and she told me.  Spirits.

Ya.

Exactly what I thought.  Uh huh lady, whatever.

This is where it gets good.  She tells me that I have an older man with me (pretty generic, right?). I just did the polite "oh, ok" thing.  I asked if she knew who he was.  She responded with someone very special.  Uh huh, ok.  I asked for a name and she looked right past me.....weird, eery, but still I am thinking "ok lady".

The kind lady tells me "how he smiles when I am around".  And "he is so happy when you walk into his house".  I am sure this last one got a response...I am sure my face dropped.  Her last thing, with a bit of tears in her eyes, was "he is so proud of you".

For those who know me, you know who this was.  And how it means the world to me.

13.5 days

This school year is almost over...I honestly can't remember the first portion of it from stressing out about every little thing--a new grade level can do that to a person!  Overall, I enjoyed teaching 4th grade--I feel guilty knowing that my favorite reason is knowing I get to see the little kiddos for two more years, in other people's classrooms.  When I taught 5th, I only saw them for a their last year at the school....so yay for me!

I have had the pleasure of working with Special Olympics these past few months.  Volleyball and Powerlifting on Saturday's, Track and Field on Monday's, Kayaking on Tuesday's, and office work on Wednesday's/Thursday's.  It all paid off-we had the Special Olympics Summer Games last weekend and WOW!  Seeing all the athletes, vendors, supporters, volunteers...really puts everything into perspective.  We don't have any sports until August so my focus will be on our summer camp pretty soon.

This past week I spent a lot of time at home recuperating, which means I have had a lot of time to look at cute ideas on pinterest.  That site is addicting, and makes you feel like you can accomplish any craft someone  else has pinned.  Seriously, addicting.

I also have spent a lot of time watching NCIS on tv.  I wish they would replay them in order, from the first episode, and stop when I need a nap, and then replay them when I am ready. Is this too much to ask?  I am sure they have them all on dvd, but as we all know I am pretty much too lazy to put them into the dvd player...

Looking forward to spending some time with my family next weekend on the beach.  It will be my mom's 60th birthday!  Talk about one strong lady...it's been a fight for her.  She overcame breast cancer and is one of the strongest people I know.  I don't know of anyone who would take such good care of my dad <-----especially on his "bad" days!

So this pretty much sums up my last week or so of my life....