Ouch!

No Pain, No Gain! Right! That's how the saying goes. Well Joe definitely gets the award for both. This last week we had 2 sets of softball games. On Monday nights, Joe and I play on a coed softball team at Gilbert's Big League Dreams Park. Joe pitches. Sadly that night someone hit one up the middle and it hit Joe just below the right knee. Now in this league if you line drive a hit at the pitcher within the chalked out box it is an automatic out. However if the ball hits the ground first and then hits the pitcher it's a fair ball. This particular ball hit the ground and then hit Joe, so he made the play. On Tuesday night Joe had the final game for his Men's Mesa League, played at Skyline Park. He also pitches on that team. Mesa doesn't have the line drive pitcher rule and the bruise below is what happens when a line drive goes straight into the pitchers leg. And of course it's the same leg that he was hit from the night before, just on the thigh instead. Pretty picture. I love how the colors really show up on film. If you look closely you can see the smaller bruise below his knee.

Like I said, OUCH!

October Break Adventures

For October Break we took a trip up to the cabin, Thursday to Sunday. I wanted to include a few pictures from this trip. I didn't put them in order, however, but these are a few fun things we did while up in the cool pines.

*Drove the golf cart around the neighborhood, Jacob drove, the rest of us were just along for the ride. Taking Jacob out and letting him drive was a big mistake. That's all he wanted to do was drive the golf cart. Every morning, afternoon and night he was begging to go for a ride.

*Played Frisbee, Football, board games and table games as much as possible.

*Hunting for skunks each evening. Spotted at least 4 each night. 1 skunk even chased Jacob and Tyler. Or at least that's what they told me. I never saw the "charging" skunk.

*Attended the Snowflake Lobos Homecoming Football game with my brother Galen and his family. Thanks for the invite!

Playing football in the street.

Aaron out looking for skunks.Tyler skunk hunting.

Jacob Skunk hunting

Aaron playing frisbee

Jared playing frisbee

Games in the garage.

Golf cart rides

On the way home on Sunday, we decided to take a detour through Roosevelt Lake due to construction on the main highway around Sunflower. We had never taken this route before and were up for an adventure. Well it became quite the adventure. Once we reached the Roosevelt Lake, which was amazing and has a really cool bridge (my camera was safely packed in the back of the truck so no pictures), we came to a fork and had to make a choice. Continue on Route 188 to Globe or take Route 88 to Apache Junction. Well Route 88 to Apache Junction sounded so fast. That was until we got about 5 miles into the road. Suddenly there were signs that said pavement ends for next 22 miles. We had to make a choice and we choose to stay the course. Take the road less traveled by became our mantra. This road followed the river, winding this way and that, up and down hills, over 1 way only bridges with lots of switchbacks and washboard bumping. It was some of the most beautiful Arizona country we've ever seen. It was a true adventure. The road took us by Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats and spit us out next to the Superstition Mountains and into Apache Junction. It was a long ride, and probably one we won't take again for quite a while. The funniest part was as we got closer to Tortilla Flats, we came across tons of people heading into the canyons we were trying to get out of. I suppose this is great place for a nice Sunday afternoon drive, that's what it turned into for us!

When I got home I was telling my Mom about our round about trip home. She just laughed and said, Sherri, you've been on that road before when you were little. Dad and I took you kids on it when we were young and adventurous and had small children. So I told her we must be following tradition, cause we had just taken our young family on the same course. Funny how those things happen.

Police Ride Along

Yesterday afternoon I went on my Mesa Police Ride Along. I rode with a female officer named Lauren. She was a very interesting lady. She has been with the MPD for 16 years and I could tell that she loves her job. I went out from 2 until 6:30pm. The time went really fast too. I could have stayed out all night with her, it was fun.

I started by going to the Superstition District on Ellsworth to meet up with my officer. I was able to attend the briefing with about 4 officers that were just coming on the swing shift. They talked about crimes that had occurred over night and any "bad guys" that were out and about. It was kind of a story telling time, and maybe it was because I was there, but I didn't totally get the feeling that they were doing anything different than when I'm not there. After the briefing that lasted about 20 mins, I headed out to the cars with Lauren. It took about another 20 mins to get her computer running and her car loaded with all her stuff. Just as we were finishing up we got her first call. Someone had thrown a rock through a window at a house that people were inside working on. Sadly this is where we ended up spending most of our time.

The house was a big 2 story in North Mesa that had been a foreclosure and the new owners were fixing up. It was gutted to the drywall. It looked like a new build on the inside. Except for all the broken, boarded up windows. We took a report, because the people wanted a report. But there really wasn't anything to do because they didn't see anyone throw the rock and we couldn't find anyone when we drove around behind the house. Oh, the house backs up to a shopping center and the top row of brick on the fence was down, so basically an easy target for bored kids.

We left there and drove around a little while. She showed me how she checked license plates while sitting at red lights. Just looking for insurance and registration violations. Officer Lauren doesn't pull people over for speeding unless its really excessive. She drives very fast. I was holding on the entire time. We then got called back to the first call. Some teenagers had jumped the wall and the owners had them sitting on the curb behind the house. Four officers responded to this call because there was four teens caught and one that had taken off. After all the talking and figuring out, it was determined that 1 boy was high and 1 other had actually gone over the fence. And because they were all around 14 they were being cited and released to their parents. Watching angry parents show up was entertaining, but otherwise it was a lot of standing around.

We got 2 other calls while I was on the ride along. The first of the 2 involved a Sheriff's Posey member harassing teenagers in his neighborhood. Basically a cranky old guy who shot off his mouth to the wrong Mom that he was Police. Well the parents didn't take kindly to it and call the real Police. So that was a quick call, and I'm sure they will be back in that neighborhood with more complaints soon.

The last call we went on came in as a "hot" call. A woman called a crisis line and was threatening suicide by hammer. This is someone that Officer Lauren had dealt with in the past. A mental health, common crisis person. When we got to the apartment complex, Southwest Ambulance was waiting. Officer Lauren called them vultures, just waiting for blood. I thought, wow finally something exciting. There were 2 other officers there when we got there. Officer Lauren took lead because she had had previous contact with the woman. A very agitated and colorfully worded woman answered the door and started screaming at the officers. I stay down the stairs a bit, just in case. But like any good mental health patient, her mood changed very quickly and she calmed down and talked to the officers for about 10 mins. She told them she called the crisis line and asked to be put in lock down, but they told her no. So she said some things that set everything into motion. But now she was saying the crisis was over and no one needed to come. Officer Lauren explained that the crisis team was already en route and would be there in about 20 mins. A friend showed up to stay with her and sadly we all left with no further trouble.

After that it was time to take me back to the district. I had softball games to get to anyways. After I got home I realized I left my water bottle in the police car. I warned my babysitter that if the police showed up, not to worry. And sure enough, when I got home from my ballgames around 10:30 my water bottle was sitting on the counter.

More of Jacob's Birthday

My cake baking helper, Jared. Aaron said he wanted to help but then he climbed into "the magic brown chair" and went to sleep. (We call it the magic brown chair because anyone who sits in it falls asleep. So when I want Aaron to take a nap or slow down I tell him to go sit in the magic brown chair, it's the new family joke.)

But back to the Birthday Celebrations... So cute! The rule in the house is if you want to lick the bowl you have to help make the cake. Jared was very insistent on pouring the ingredients in and helping stir. So he got his reward of licking the bowl.

11 candles!

It took 3 breaths to get them out. We were all teasing him for not getting them out in 1 breath.

It was a nice quiet birthday celebration. We sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream.

Happy 11th Birthday, Jacob!

Today Jacob turns 11. In celebration of his birthday, we took him out to his favorite walk in and sit down restaurant for dinner last night, Red Robin. He enjoyed a free kids meal and we even got them to bring him out a ice cream sundae and sing to him. He put his head on the table through the entire song. Joe took this picture with his new cell phone.
Jacob has requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday cake. Aaron said he wanted to help bake it for Jacob. We will see how that goes.
Happy Birthday, Jacob!

The good, the bad and the ugly

2010 School Pictures are in...

needless to say I'm am a little disappointed and am sending 3 of the 4 back for retakes.

We seemed to have ended up with a good, a bad and a couple of uglies. I love my kids and I know school pictures are never the greatest, but this year takes the cake. I don't know if it's just my lack of photogenics or lack of skill on behalf of the photographer. The surprise is who I thought would be the worst is not. I expected Jared's to come back a mess, and yet his are the best in my opinion.

Judge for yourself. They get retaken on Wed. Here's hoping for better results.

Jared wins the prize for the best picture.

Who is this kid? Not my ever cute and smiley Aaron.
I've never seen a bad picture of Aaron until now.I think Tyler is too scared to smile. Now Tyler struggles to take a great picture sometimes, but this is one of the weirdest pictures of him I've ever seen. He told me they took it so fast he didn't have time to smile. I bet about 2 seconds later he had a great smile. 2 seconds, guaranteed.

And Jacob. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. The last few years we've gotten some strange pictures out of this boy. But this one takes the cake. He has such a nice smile when we are not trying to get him to smile. Although I did get him to admit that this was a bad picture and he would like to try again.

I figured I needed to document these just in case they get worse on the 2nd try. I'm hoping for a better set soon. I know bad school pictures are just part of growing up. They are great to look back on and laugh at, but for once I'd like a nice set up on my wall for all to see. I have such handsome boys and just hope the camera can catch it. That's not too much to ask, right?

The Sheep Walk

On Saturday, October 2nd we got up at 5am to go see the Sheep Walk. Every year a group of ranchers walks their sheep from their ranch in Florence to Eager Arizona for the summer. October is when they walk them back from Eager to Florence for the winter. Joe taught school with a lady that wrote a book about this Sheep Walk. She let us know when it was happening so we could watch them walk the sheep down Signal Butte Road from Usery Pass to the US 60.

When we got up it was pitch black. We drove up and down Signal Butte but couldn't find them. So we went back home and got the email instructions and headed back out. We finally found Cindy, the writer of the book at Signal Butte and Brown Road. So we hopped out of the truck and waited. We took tons of pictures and some video of this amazing occurrence. Here are a few.

Here are my boys waiting for the sheep to come down the road to Brown. The sheep were escorted by 3 Maricopa County Sheriff's, 2 in the front and 1 in the back. It was quite a site to see, smell and hear. The sheep make quite a noise as they walk. We were encouraged to walk with them, but the boys didn't want to until the end.
Here they come. The shepherds had red flags and lasso's to keep the sheep moving along. There were also 3 dogs herding them along.The boys got so excited when they finally saw them coming.

This white dog is named Blue for the blue collar he always wears.

The blond lady standing behind Tyler is Cindy. She has gone on the sheep trail many times. She is currently writing a book about the burros that the ranchers used while in the mountains. We got to see the beginnings of the book along with the pictures. They are amazing.

Once the sheep went past Brown Road, we cut around them on Meridian and got a spot at Apache Trail (Main Street in Mesa). Here are the boys waiting for the sheep to come by again.

Joe and Jacob waiting for the sheep.

Sherri, Jared & Aaron waiting on Apache Trail.

A Mesa Police car pulled up to the light at Apache just as the sheep were coming through. It was fun to watch the sheep go around the Police car. The officer had his cellphone out and was taking pictures and filming it.

Me in front of the sheep. My boys were too nervous to join me in the street.

At Southern Road there was a lot more traffic, including bicyclist. People were just pulling over in amazement.

This car just stopped at Southern and didn't know where to go, so the sheep went around it.

The boys and Joe decided to walk from Southern to the freeway. I drove around and met them. The sheep turn into the desert from here and head down towards Florence. They camp somewhere around Guadalupe Road and will finish the trek on Sunday.

Here come the boys behind the sheep.

This is one of the other dogs. This picture says it all. It was getting hot and was a long walk from Usery Pass to the US 60 and they still had another mile or 2 to go.

In all it took just about an hour for the sheep to walk down Signal Butte Road. The boys thought it was too cool. We are hoping to do this again next year, and hopefully it will be cooler. The best part is we went for a fun Village Inn breakfast after our Sheep Walk.