Broccoli Watch..

Broccoli(code for small)~ Porter has been having really bad pains in his legs for the last couple of weeks, that I have to massage out frequently, yeah he knows I'd do anything for him. Sometimes they are truly very painful, and the same happened with the other four kids... I don't think it's just wishful thinking, I think it's a GROWTH spurt! Maybe not soo broccoli anymore yeah!

Use your light to change the life of a child....

Just one more week until "Enchanted Nights", Golden W.H.E.E.L.'s(women helping educate and enrich lives) annual Gala! We raise money for children on the West side primarily for West Valley child crisis center, and college scholarships for seniors. This year our theme is "Use your light to change the life of a child", who ever came up with that is pretty awesome. We are having roughly 600 guests and for the first time in the Coyotes Arena(jobing.com) thanks to Jerry and Vicky. I am decorating Chair this year. And I will post pics. asap!

Our little Bug turned 16!

Heaven help us, Charlee can finally date.... I am officially asking for a variety of choices, so she won't be tempted to settle down too soon! Those of you who know boys that have HIGH MORAL STANDARDS, who also are RESPECTFUL, and KIND, her Father and I would greatly appreciate you sending them our way. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of boys who are eager to date our wonderful girl, but there are not very many opportunities for group dating. I know several wholesome young ladies, and it would be great if we could form some kind of dating co-op. Time is of the essence, for when she sees this post, I will have to remove it.

Let's give Thanks!

First I would like to give thanks that my computer is up and working again! It was too scary not knowing whether we'd lost everything... I'll be backing up all my photos now. Really I am mostly grateful for my family! We went to Grandpa Bob's and Grandma Rox's for dinner and had a Turkey Shoot! For those of you who don't know,( all 3 people who read my blog) a Turkey Shoot is where you shoot at targets with guns, Grandpa even had a little beebee for the kiddos. When I was young, it was a tradition at Thanksgiving and with all the extended family at G & G Joy's house it could get quite competitive! Anyway our little shoot was fun for everybody. Matt and Jen, Erin, and Grandpa Joy were there, uncle Kirk, and all the grandkids. LOTS of yummy food too. Matt and Jen have 3 beautiful little girls, and Erin has her 4 handsome boys, which Porter is grateful for, he loves being with them, finally some male bonding! Grandpa seemed to enjoy himself, although everything, especially Holidays remind us of Grandma. Brooki is thankful for time to play with Eliza and Janey. Emmilyn,gives thanks for time to hang with Mason, but she, Stephi, and Charlee are all thankful for snuggily Little Lucy! she just curls up on ya, (if she has her silky). Erin, Matthew and I are thankful we can look back on our childhood and laugh! Loren and I are thankful for each other, 17 years. wow! I love you Grandpa, Mom and Dad. Thanks for everything.

I'm afwayed your gonna ground me....

Porter came home from school today totally mortified, he handed me the pretty little pumpkin seed he'd been growing since Halloween, I took it , told him how neat the plant was, but I couldn't understand why was soo sad. He said that I was gonna be too mad at him, and he was afwayed that I would ground him, because he'd gotten a red card, and he immediately started sobbing. When I finally got him calmed down he told me that he was just playing Cooper and Carter's game with them. It sounded innocent enough, but upon further investigation I discovered that the object of the game was to either wrestle your Nemesis to the ground or just take a swing at them. Everything was fine until his giant friend accidently caught someone, and that kid didn't like it, O and the name of this little game is; the "Hitting Game". Yeah I guess that's a problem. In Porter's defense, he never was lucky enough to lay a hand on anyone, and he learned a valuable lesson about, those whom you associate with.... Anyway the pumpkin sprout was real sweet, and to this day that has been his only red.

Pleeeease Grandpa...

Lake Powell has held some of the best memories of my childhood. We spent a lot of time there in the summers as a family. Swimming in the warm water, skiing, boogie boarding, sleeping under the stars, or just boating. The scenery alone is enough to imprint you for life. We would meet friends and extended family there, and we would take turns bringing friends from home. a lot of fantastic memories were born there, but my sister and brother would agree that one of the most vivid, was seeing the moon rising over the beautiful rocky landscape... We were just hangin out one evening, chillin on the boat when Dad said," hey do guys want to see something neat? we were like yeah! Okay then follow me and your mom, your gonna see the moon rise, it's so beautiful." So we jumped up on to the rocks and tried to keep up with Dad, he then told us to sit down where we were, and we would see it soon. We were all waitng excitedly, & Mom started yelling "look, look" and the next thing we saw was Dad's big white rear end mooning us! Yeah, we all thought it was pretty funny, and still do, it's just one of those images you can't get out of your brain! Well, eventually we moved, and Dad made the decision to sell the cabin cruiser, that was not an easy choice to make. Those were some dark days, and we still miss that family tradition!~ Recently we were fortunate enough to take our children to Lake Powell, and stay on the Kings house boat, it was awesome! It was one of the best things we have done with our kids, they loved it as much as I did when I was there age, although they still haven't had the opportunity to see the moon over the rocks. Hurry up Grandpa & buy a new boat!

Howe family favorites...

We love the water! Our most favorite family memories have been at the ocean in La Jolla, and on the water at Lake Powell!~ La Jolla is like experiencing a different lifestyle for many reasons, but we got lucky with Price line and got an amazing Hotel. It wasn't amazing because it was luxurious, it was the location! We literally could walk out the back of our hotel on to the beach. A private beach, which was maintained daily. And situated in a cove-like area, where there were only small waves so the little kids are safer. It was beautiful, and the hotel has complimentary beach chairs and towels, and you can also get food and drinks served right there on the sand. When we planned our vacation we wanted to have time on the beach, but we were also there for Sea World, which in hind sight wasn't necessary (although Steph loves marine life). the beach was the most fun by far and less expensive, the time passed too quickly and the kids were never bored. The water was warm and calm enough for lil' boogie boarders, and the sand was soft, perfect for laying on, or making sand sculptures and of course Brooklyn's fav. collecting sea shells. At night it was a little chilly, but you could build a fire to roast wieners and marshmallows,(we haven't done that yet, but it sounds so beach bummy, beach bummy that's funny.) Anyway, my best thing was just sitting quietly on the beach listening to the waves and watching the dark water in the moonlight there is something a little scary about how powerful the water is and that it can be deadly, the massiveness of the sea is truly awesome.. It's spiritual, I could sit there every night, to wind down it's the most relaxing thing in the world.