There are times when we just call her WILD DOG...

There are times when Duchess goes berserk. I finally caught her on video. Mostly she's just a streak of white but you'll get the idea.

Introducting #11.....................

Meet our #11 grandchild.....Melissa. This is her kindergarten picture from this past Spring.

And here she is in her dance class - third dancer from the left with her arms up! A star is born!!!

And TA DA, the pose!

Pool party raided by the police.....

Okay, we look pretty innocent, don't we??? Our church had a pool party/barbeque at one of the developments in our ward. I was amazed that the sign said "871 maximum capacity" by the pool. We had no where near that many! There were also a lot of people there not of our church. We hung out at the pool for a little while and then mosied (that's what us old folks do) over to get a hot dog and salad. I turned to see Larry talking to a lady who was demanding to know what group we were and who gave us permission to be in the pool. He thought she was joking at first thinking she was a member of our church that he didn't know. She was getting more upset by the minute so I told her who we were with and that didn't seem to calm her down. We have about 12-15 families from our ward who live in that development but she was upset because there were so many of us there. Our group was only scheduled to be there from 5-7 p.m. and by this time it was already after 6 p.m. We apologized to her and she left. About 40 minutes later the police came - yep two patrol cars. They kind of cased us out before actually coming over to talk to us. Our bishop was ready as he approached one of the officers with a water balloon - that's when we left. As we passed by them we saw everyone laughing and at ease so we think things are under control. Guess we'll find out tomorrow at church - if the bishop isn't there we'll know it wasn't.

Aleana and Rowen......

A picture really is worth a thousand words!!!!

Becoming a DBacks Fan..................

Being a trasnplant to the desert has brought many changes in our lives and after nearly three years we ventured to the other side to watch our first Diamondbacks game. Okay, we happened upon this quite by accident - I won tickets! Yes - last week I answered the "time-line trivia" contest on our local radio station correctly and won four tickets for last night's game. (They give clues to the year and while I don't rememeber the clues I do remember the answer was 1961!!) We took Jacob and Mandi and had a great time. Welcome to Chase Field!

I have to say that the stadium is fantastic - with airconditioning that kept the temp at a very comfortable level! There is a sliding roof that stays closed most days in the summer!

Thinking our seats wouldn't be THAT great we were pleasantly surprised to see that we were three rows up from the DBacks bull pen!

Baxter is the mascot - not really sure what he is or why they chose him but he seemed to have a great rapport with the crowd.

From our seats looking toward home plate.

Duchess is 10 months old.....

Duchess now fits her crate! She is 10 months old and weighs about 45 lbs. She has calmed down considerably and is really doing much better with Snickers (our cat). No more cat chasing around the house. And all because Duchess is calmer! Duchess crates up at night but has the run of the house during the day whether we are home or not. We leave our bedroom door closed because she previously did some damage to my pillow - probably because of my scent - while we were away for a few days. Our neighbor was watching her and felt really bad about the pillow. I was able to still use it so no big deal! Notice she doesn't have any bedding? That's because she used to chew it up and we haven't given her any to sleep on lately! Maybe for her first birthday, who knows? We'll have to see how generous we feel.

The Washington Adventure..........

My visit in Washington has come to an end but the photos and memories will last forever!!!!









Here we are at the movies - actual proof that you can take three adults, a nine-year old, a two-year old, and a two-week old and enjoy a movie together! We certainly did! (Even the youngest were so quiet no one knew they were there!)


Kirsten's dental visit. Her only dentist has been Marlin and she travels 2410 miles for her checkups!!!! Look Ma, no cavities!!



















Rowen getting some one-on-one time with Nana.

















Rowen with his great-grandma Gwen (Larry's mom)



















Mandi and Jacob with their nieces and nephews - Kirsten (9), Taunie (15), Mandi, Rowen (18 days - check out that yawn!), Amy (12), Matthew (10), Jacob, Tierra (17), Tenajha (11), Taleah (9), & Aleana (2).