I believe that he will win!

My brother decided to run for Student Body President.

The last two weeks have been a frenzy of campaign conference calls, picture taking for posters, brainstorming ideas and turning those ideas into action.

His application was pretty impressive. He's one of the most well rounded, smart, good kids at the school. He's also the blondest, whitest, and cutest, in my humble opinion.

We've all pitched in to help get this campaign off the ground with buttons and wrist bands and posters galore. It's been a lot of fun to bounce ideas off of each other and get psyched up for Willie.

He's running against two girls. Each of their one minute campaign speeches didn't hold a candle to the frenzy my goofy brother created in the gym....even if the frenzy was a bit planned for impact.

I hope he wins. I think he can win.


Go Team Willie!

A busy day on "vacation"

We were only in Arizona for three full days.  Not really enough time to do anything.  Ross grew up in Arizona and of course, once we're there, spends every second he can trying to convince me what a wonderful place it is.  I then tell him that besides the heat, which I couldn't live in for one second, and the lack of seasons (I really do like the snow and the rain) that Phoenix is the land of strip malls, shopping malls, and chain restaurants.

In 10 years of making a pilgrimage to the desert, I have one time been to a museum and one time been out to a pretty lake in the middle of no where and road a paddle boat.  Otherwise, my experience is limited to shopping, eating and baseball.  Which, is pretty much all we did this vacation as well.  One day though, we might actually have the time to do "touristy" stuff when we go down to visit instead of just racing around to see as many people as we can, visit the outlet malls, the Native New Yorker restaurant and Bahama Bucks for shaved ice.

Anyway - day one wore me out.  We spent the morning with Ross' grandparents and then took them to lunch.  After that, a quick trip to the hotel to wash up and let the boys chill for 30 minutes and then back on the road to the Opening Day game for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Ug, baseball!  But, the boys had fun, Wyatt had a nap, and the D-backs won which made my husband very happy.  In fact, they swept their series with the Giants over the weekend which also made him happy.

After the baseball game (the weather was perfect!) we tried to find dinner and wrapped things up with some shaved ice.  Oh, I cannot wait for summer.

Traveling to the desert

The four of us spent our Easter in Arizona.  We got home last night after an 11 hour journey, 9.5 of those hours driving in the car and listening to the kids movies and trying my damdest to stay awake and make sure Ross didn't drive us off the road.

It had been two years since our last whirlwind tour of Arizona and we made sure to pack in as much as we could this time around, too.  We saw a lot of family on the trip, the opening day game for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a lot of landscapes, which when sitting in the car as a passenger, is pretty much all I seem to take pictures of.  Oh, my boys?  They love cactus and really put their dad's memory and cub scout training through the wringer expecting him to remember the names of every cactus known to man.

More about the trip later because as usual, I have no clean clothes or underwear and may be in my nightgown all day long.   But, here are a few pictures of some of the scenery.

Leaving Utah early, early, early in the morning.

Southern Utah, near Kanab, is absolutely beautiful.

On the reservation.  

The tallest peaks in Arizona (San Francisco Peaks), right before Flagstaff.

Um....they were really excited to be out of the car and posing in front of some cactii.

Heading out of cactus country back to the AZ "mountains".

Route 66 in AZ.  Want to stay in a teepee?  It was just like in the movie CARS.

you had to be there...

On Saturday night, we were all gathered at my mom's kitchen table.  Well, everyone except my dad and Ross, they were yelling at the basketball game on TV, a game which the rest of us didn't care about.

Anyway, we were sitting at the kitchen table because we had some planning to do.  My brother has decided to run for student body president (against three girls mind you) at his high school and we were doing some high level planning.

Really?

No, not really, we were pretty much screwing around.  You see, as these sort of meetings go, my mom is the supervisor trying to keep us all on track and appreciate everyones ideas.  I'm the bossy one who expects everyone to listen to her and they never do.  My sister is the comic relief who doesn't seem to be able to stay on topic and keeps changing the subject to something in left field.  And, my brother, whose political future we're planning, he's more worried about whether or not that hot dog he just ate was cooked all the way and if he's going to get food poisoning....forgetting the fact that hot dogs are cooked long before he sticks one on the George Foreman.

Flash forward tho the end of our meeting, the time when everything falls apart.  Mom had left the table because she was being helpful and productive getting pajamas on all the little people.  When mom leaves and my husband joins the conversation things can go downhill quickly apparently.

We were having a disagreement about who invented the name "shavy jones" for the shaved ice business.  The conversation went something like this:

Annie:  I came up with Shavy Jones

Willie:  No you did not!  I came up with Shavy Jones.

Annie:  No, you suggested Davy Jones and I came up with Shavy Jones.  Ross, back me up!

Ross:   (Not having any idea what were talking about) Annie's right. (Good husband).

Willie:  No, I came up with Shavy Jones, you are wrong.

**Note:  The conversation could have gone on like this for ages, but luckily that sister of mine decided to add the funny.

Haley:  Well, I created the octopus!

Annie:  Really?  You created the octopus?  Like, in the beginning you and God and Jesus were in Heaven planning the earth and you raised your hand and said, "Hey guys, I dibs the octopus?"

Haley started laughing.  I started laughing and my brother.....he had just taken a drink of bright pink gatorade and then, because his sisters are just so funny, proceeded to shoot that bright pink gatorade out of his nose.

His nose threw up.

It was awesome.

I almost threw up from laughing so hard.

But, I guess you had to be there.

in a nutshell....

Good Behavior on errand runs (especially LONG errand runs) is always rewarded with lunch and ice cream. Okay, not always, but on this day it was.

Before we could even blink we had a new concrete pad for shavy jones (a write-off none the less) and a patio for me. Yeah! The boys brought their little hoop up from the basement and shot baskets until they were covered in dirt and sweat and concrete dust.

Finding parts to fix broken sprinklers.

Awesome birthday party fun for our favorite 5 year old girlfriend, Lucy.

Saturday night adventures with Grandma at Shopko and McDonald's. Eventually, the chillins always end up in the truckster...this night taking Grandma on a trip to Disneyland.

Campaign planning meetings to help the big Iggie get ready to run for SBO president...against four girls.


And finally....I found this on my phone. Enjoy!