Patience

Today our boys (and Jeremy and I) got a good lesson on patience as we went fishing at A-1 Lake here in Pinetop.  It is a serious chore to get fishing rods, hooks, bobbers, bait, fishing licences, tackle boxes, and food together for a couple of hours of fishing!!  Not only that, but we finally get to the lake and everything falls apart.  Lines start breaking, worms fly off the hook, they are all hungry, one has a stinky diaper and the car is half a mile away etc. etc. etc.  Because they are still so young, the concept of being patient and waiting for the fish to bite was HARD!  They truly thought the fish were going to jump onto their lines!  Guess what...They didn't!  After much waiting and anticipation, we were able to reel in 3 little trout thanks to Jim.  Watching the reaction on their faces was hilarious as the fish would wiggle around in their hands while we were trying to take pictures.  Case was very concerned about the fish dying.  He kept saying, "You're gonna make the fish die!"  Since none of us were going to eat them, we gave them to the cute boys who were fishing next to us.  It was fun and exhausting and a good lesson in patience...even for the adults!

Here are the little fishermen with their catch! 

(Ledger couldn't put the beef jerky down long enough to take the picture)

Brody (the most impatient) really wanted to catch a fish!

Case enjoyed fishing for 30 seconds and then throwing rocks in the lake.  He really enjoyed finding big sticks around the lake!

Ledger thought he was fishing but we are smart enough to know not to put a hook on his line!

Ledger and his big catch!

3 Holes

Today Brody and Case finished their golf clinic at White Mountain Country Club with a 3 hole golf tournament.  It was the first time they had actually played holes of golf.  Usually they practice chipping, putting, etc, but never have they played holes for a score.  Let me tell you, it was the cutest dang thing ever!  After 3 holes of golf, Brody ended up with a score of 35 while Case had a score of 40.  That's right, it took them about 13 swings per hole to get from the tee to the hole! Did I mention that they teed off 100 yards from the hole?!  It was so funny!  I couldn't believe how well they actually hit the ball.  It was super fun watching them, especially since they were having so much fun! 

Here were the scores for the boys 3 hole tournament.  You can see Case's score on the bottom left and Brody's score on the top right.

O.k.  This is a terrible picture of me, but I wanted you to see the look on my face when the coach was explaining the rules for the tournament.  Here were a few:  Whiffs count on the score, the kids are allowed only 1 practice swing before it counts on their score, parents may not score their own kids, parents are not to coach the kids, they are there to have fun, parents should use tally marks to keep track of how many swings the kids make.  I was a bit worried, especially about the whiffs! Look at the Mom behind me, she is doing the same thing!!!

Brody sunk this putt!  The gold metallic ball helped!

You can see from the location of the ball after Case's swing why it took 13 tries to get to the hole!  Case loved his blue metallic ball.  He actually didn't want to use it for the tournament because he was scared he wouldn't get it back!!

My two cute golfers and their proud Dad!  What a fun day for us all!

Check out Case's practice swing.  Great form Case!

Brody had a long putt to get the ball in the hole!

Even Ledger got in on the golf action.  He got to hit balls after the tournament.  Boy did he think he was cool!  Maybe next year Ledger man!

Check out this long putt!  It took Case a few tries but he did it!

There was no way I was going to walk 3 holes with the boys.  Sugar, Ledger and I rented the golf cart to get us around the course!  Luckily, Brody, Case and Jeremy rented a cart to get them around too!

"Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime..."

You get out of town!  That's what we have been doing!

  Brody and Case are doing the golf clinic up here at White Mountain Country Club with about 75 other littles! They go each day for an hour and then on Friday they will have a golf tournament where they can play 1,3,5,9 or 18 holes of golf. They are having a blast learning how to chip and putt!  Of course their favorite part is hitting the snack bar after practice!   It is so fun watching them play in the cool mountain air...a big change from the 110 plus weather in Mesa!  Yesterday they had to cut their practice short due to thunder and lightening!  So fun!

My two little golfers are ready for some fun!

Here they are getting some instructions from their coaches.

Brody is getting so good at golfing!  Look at that swing!

Case getting some instruction from his big brother Brody.

Look at Case's swing...Awesome!

Brody sunk this putt as Jim was taking the picture!

Case is getting the perfect angle for this putt!

Also this week, the Club has scheduled tons of fun activities for kids.  Tuesday night we went to a mad game of BINGO.  You wouldn't have believed the prizes they were giving away.  We're talking mountain bikes, IPods, Star Wars Legos, Barbie Laptop computers, IPod docking stations...it was crazy!  Of course my boys wanted to win the Star Wars Legos.  They were all crying by time we left cause our table didn't win them! I wish we could stay here for the rest of the summer but unfortunately, my OB says I'm grounded from traveling after this week.  

Case and I didn't do very well at Family BINGO Night but we had fun!

Brody, Sugar and Case playing BINGO.

Ledger and I tried playing BINGO but didn't do very well!

Cousins

The best part of our trip to Huntington Beach was spending time with these little girlies!  It's hard to believe that out of the 6 grandchildren, the only 3 boys are MINE!  Pretty soon the boys will be outnumbered (Sorry boys!)  It's amazing how different girls are then boys. I've always known this as a former teacher, but to be around girlies for a whole week straight when I'm so used to boys, was an eye opener.  It makes me nervous and excited for this baby girl of mine to arrive.  The boys loved playing with their cousins and trying to make them laugh when their Mom's couldn't.  Can't wait for the next big trip with the COUSINS!  We love you girls!

Presley, Brody and Ledger having fun on the beach.  Presley will turn 1 at the end of this month.

Ella and Case loved playing together.  They have a love/hate relationship.  They're the same age...what more can I say?

Brody and Ella relaxing in the sand.

Brooklyn and Ledger had fun playing with each other.

And here we are...the tourists who rented bikes and rode around Newport Beach one Sunday morning.  It was tons of fun for the kids, but lots of work for this overweight Mom!!

This is what we looked like cruising around Disneyland.  Good Times!

Cute Presley got the flu while we were at the beach so she didn't 

make it into many of the pictures!

Disneyland!

Ella and Presley giving kisses!

Jacuzzi and Smores in JULY...

...not in Arizona of course!

One of our favorite things to do each night while in California was to make Smores in the fire pits around the resort and then hit the jacuzzi.  The warm jacuzzi water along with the cool ocean breeze was the perfect way to end our day.  Of course there was a huge sign hanging by the jacuzzi stating that pregnant women were not allowed to enter the water.   I wasn't going to miss out, so I would go put my feet in and watch my 3 little monkeys float around the HOT pool as they called it!  Just another wonderful part of our trip to Huntington Beach!

My boys loved going in the "Hot Pool" with Sugar!

This 6 year old could eat Smores all day every day if I let him!  

He is the best Smores maker ever!

Case Loved the Hot Pool!  It was a little hard for him to understand that he wasn't allowed to jump, splash or dive into the water.  He needed LOTS of reminders!!

Yep, we let our 2 year old play with FIRE!  Ledger thought making Smores was tons of fun...what BOY wouldn't?  I mean seriously, sticks, fire, food, it's a boys dream come true!

I think my boys felt bad for me that I wasn't allowed to get in the jacuzzi.  They tried to make me feel as much a part of the action as possible!

YUMMY! Ledger was loving his Smore!

Here I am helping Ledger make his Smore.  Would you believe that I am not a fan of Smores?  I think it's the marshmallow, or maybe the thick chunk of chocolate.  I'm not sure but they are not my favorite dessert treat!