THEY'RE ENGAGED!

So my little brother Panchito proposed to his girlfriend Jennifer last night. They have been dating for three years now. Get this they met on myspace, they were able to meet a few times in person then just over a year in to their relationship Jennifer made the big move from California to Arizona to be with Panchito. Last December they moved from my Mom's house and got there own place together.

I am sure you are dying to know how he did it so here goes. Well, he was originally gonna do it next week on their anniversary, but then found out they both had to work, so he decide to just do it last night. Jennifer had to work until six so while she was at work he set the stage. Jennifer came home from work and walked into a dark candle lit house with their song playing in the background. There was a path of Hershey's kisses leading her to the bedroom. On the bed was a dozen roses and a card. While Jennifer began to read the card Panchito snuck in behind her, the card said "Now that I have kissed the ground you walked on..." she turned around and my brother was standing behind her, with tears in both there eyes Panchito got on 1 knee, and told Jennifer how happy she made him and how much he loved her, then said he wanted to spend eternity with her will she marry him. Of course she said yes.

No official wedding plans have been made yet, but there has been talk about the wedding possibly being in California since that is where all of Jennifer's family is. We will keep you posted as the plans un-wind.

Congratulations Panchito and Jennifer! We are so happy and excited for the two of you. We look forward to being apart of your special day, and your life together as husband and wife.

Dancer Dancer

Dancing with Daddy

A's 17 Month Update

Ok, so let me start by saying how hard it is to get A's monthly "chair" picture. She has so much energy and trying to get her to sit for two seconds, to take a picture is almost impossible. I finally got a good one, but I am gonna post some of the not so good ones as well. =)

A has been a BEAR this past week. She is cutting her third bottom tooth, and is not taking it well. We have had a week of little sleep, barely eating, and lot's of fussing. I cannot wait for this tooth to pop through. Other then that A is doing really well. She's still our little peanut, not really getting a whole lot bigger, a little bit taller, but no extra weight. She has a Dr's appointment next month so we will find out for sure how much she has grown then. She is just so fun and so smart, I swear she picks up on something new everyday. She has recently learned how to count to three. And is really testing Mom & Dad, with her new Monkey skills. She likes to climb on top of anything, count to three then jump off, it is not pretty we don't have nice soft carpet to land on, you think she would learn, but I think it's just making her stronger. A is mastering her singing and dancing skills, and still really enjoys being outside. She is also becoming more affectionate, she loves giving hugs and kisses. While on our walks she has started to reach for Daddy's hand, she like to hold it while were walking (and she is in the Snugli) and she will kiss it the whole walk. What a stinker, she has never done that with me. =) Well, that is about it for now, hope you enjoy the pictures. We look forward to seeing what this month has in store for us.

August 2007

Bedtime kisses for Maq

ZONKED!

Cheese

You Caught Me

1st attempt in trying to take this picture. - SIT STILL

Ok now she's mad

Monkeying around

I am so cute!

Another Fun Weekend

Every month the Fire Department wifes get together and have a Girls Night Out Party. We take turns hosting it and comming up with fun themes. Well, August was my month so I did Appetizers in August on Friday night. It was a little smaller crowd this month but was still lots of fun chatting and eating. My friends S Karg and R Sanders were also able to join us even though they are not fire wives, they still needed the time with out the kids. =)

We were pretty lucky to have S Karg get to stay the weekend with us. After the party on Friday we stayed up watching the olympics, and playing cards, I got my butt kicked! We got up Saturday morning had breakfast then went for a nice hike to the top of Thumb Butte, it kicked our butts on the way up, but the way down was a good cool down. After our hike we made a few stops around town before heading home. We mads S's favorite for dinner, Carne Asada, mmm. Once again we stayed up and watched the olympics, and this time played Mexican Train, I still lost but this time D was the bigger winner. We got up on Sunday morning and headed to church, and S went home from there. D, A and I headed home for a day filled with nothing but relaxing. Thank you S for coming up and hanging out, we had a lot of fun, and look forward to doing it again soon.

Three tuff chicas She was suposed to be asleep

What a view

Our Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend so thought we would share some pics with you all. We started our weekend off on 08/08/08 with an Olympics Opening Ceremonies Party at the Kargs house. It was us, the Kargs (duh), the Listers (S Kargs Sisters family) and we had a surprise visit from Amy K, S Kargs other sister from TN. We had lots of good food, played a little bit of Rock Band, and of course watched the Opening Cermonies for the 2008 Olympics. We also celebrated S Kargs sister B's Birthday. The kids had lots of fun playing together and stayed up way too late. The kidsSistersI've been adopted!

On Saturday, we took J to the Diamondbacks game. We had bought tickets a few weeks ago through her cheer gym, because they were suposed to perform before the game. We always enjoy watching live sporting events, I love to dance, do the wave and of course the 7th inning stretch. It was a little hard at first with A, then she fell asleep so it was all good. Diamond backs ended up getting killed so we left at the bottom of the 8th. On Sunday, our church was having thier 2008 Family Fair, so of course we attended. There was food, games for the kids, water slides, volleyball, basketball and music. Grandma C and the Sampson family came up to join us for this fun day in the sun. The weather even with the few sprinkles, was beautiful, and it is always great to spend time with family and friends. A loved going down the huge waterslide, you have to watch the video below. Have a great week. =) Our FamilySistersGrandma & JA trying to snap her fingers

Press play to watch A & Daddy going down the waterslideFriends The Sampsons

J's Update

First off sorry so much time has gone by between posts, we have been a little bit busy.

Just wanted to write a quick update about J. J started Junior High last Wednesday, and so far so good. We were able to go with her to her Open House/meet the teacher night on Tuesday, it was great to meet all the teachers and see the school where she will be going. It was also helpful, I think, for J to walk from class to class so she wouldn't get lost on her first day. As of now J likes all her teachers, and it looks like she won't be getting too much homework, which is always a plus. J is really liking her Social Studies class, her teacher plays music, and is really nice. She also really likes her Home Economics class, she is looking forward to learning to sew and cook. J has some old friends in a few of her classes and has started to make friends in the others. A couple bummer things, one J has to ride the bus to and from school this year, and two she hasn't eaten lunch at school yet, her lunch hour is at like 11 o'clock and she hasn't gotten used to eating that early yet, I am sure that will change in a few weeks.

We also wanted to update you on J's cheer. If you remember back in May, J tried out for her second year of competitive cheerleading, and made the senior team. J has been busy and going to cheer practice all summer long. Well, little by little, J's team was falling apart. Between the two teams, Juniors & Seniors, they lost so many team members that they ended up having to combine the teams. You can probably see where we are going with this, but as you can imagine the frustration J was feeling. She worked so hard to get where she was at, but now because she has girls less talented on the team it was bringing down some of the others. The coaches were doing their best to pull the other girls up, which left no time/room for J to continue to progress. J was torn (as were her parents) does she stay with it and not really move forward or does she quit and try again next year? The same week she was contemplating, the coaches announced that they were leaving the team, the decision just got easier, J too decided to leave the team. Since leaving the team 1 week ago, she has signed up for the youth group activities on Wednesday nights at church, and will be taking a tumbling class to keep up on her skills. We are all bummed that she won't be cheering this year, but think it was the best decision.

We will keep you posted as J continues to progress in Junior High and tumbling.