Arizona Family Reunion

Holy Cow....I'm WAY late on this blog.....almost a month late.....lol But oh well. The story hasn't changed so it will be alright. :)
Anywho....4th of July weekend Warren and I flew to Arizona for his family reunion. It was really nice to see his family. They're such nice people and so caring. Sadly though not everyone could make it. Two of Warren's brothers who also live in Oregon couldn't make it and one brother from Utah couldn't make it. But thankfully we still got to see a bunch of the family. :)
The first day there I was actually a lil disappointed in the weather. I was expecting to get some good sun and it actually rained and wasn't much warmer than Oregon! Crazy! lol But it wasn't terrible and we spent some good quality family time with some craft activities. The first activity was for the men in the family and they had to make two different objects out of just newspaper and duct tape and the women had to judge them on how creative their object was and how recognizable their object was. Also, as you will see from the upcoming photos they also had to make a hat out of just aluminum foil and whoever did the best got a prize. I was proud to say that Warren got 2nd place! lol Not too shabby! :)

Man....he is such a goof! Lol But he made me laugh. :)

In this next photo, from the left to the right is War's brother-in-laws Randi and Kevin, his Dad Marshall, his brother Chantry (the winner of the hat contest), Wars other brother Brian and then of course Warren himself. (this group of guys are hilarious! )
Warren's group made the fishing boat, with it's accessories an oar and a fish, and yep. Proud to say his group won! Boo-yah!!! lol
The rest of that day was spent hiking at Cottonwood Wash, a place where water will run if it ever rains in Arizona.....lol but it was all dried out for our hike. :) I was just hoping we wouldn't have a flash flood while we were stuck in the middle of it. haha Of course since I'm not real used to taking pics still, I forgot to bring the camera......ugh.....there were some cool things there too!!! GAH!! At one point Warren and I went off hiking by ourselves and it was in Cougar country....I kept telling Warren not to turn his back and to stay close to me and to make lots of noise as we were walking along to hopefully scare any Cougars away....lol I bet we sounded like idiots to everyone else......haha But just as we were getting into the hiking mode, poor Warren was picking up cool rocks and totally stabbed his thumb on a lil cactus that was hiding under the rock......those things are like porcupine quills! They're hard to get out and they hurt!! Let's just say that ended our lil hiking adventure.......Speaking of cactus's, here was a cool looking one we found by his parent's house. Cool flowers on it.

That night when we got back from the hiking, Warren's oldest brother Brian offered to take War and I spotlighting (yes without guns...just a spotlight) cuz Warren and I had never done that before and we wanted to see some elk since we were in elk country! lol Man oh man did we get lucky! Brian said he had never had such good luck before! We saw at least 8 elk in like 2 hours time! And the last group we saw actually ran right along the road we were on like 10 yards away from us and it was really really neat. Up close and personal! lol We were so close we could see the velvet on the Bull's antlers!!! Neat!!! And no I don't think a picture would have turned out of that...just had to be there. :)
On the 4th of July we went to a massive rodeo. And I mean massive! Thousands and thousands of people there! WAY too crowded! But it was fun! Of course the bull riding is always my favorite and is always the most exciting for me, but this time was a first for me because one of the clowns actually got hurt. I've never seen one get hurt before! I mean I've seen em get knocked down before, but this clown actually got his leg broken.....crazy..... Then they played fireworks afterward of course and it was a good show! :) I was amazed at how a bunch of the rodeo horse riders were actually riding their horses around in the arena during the fireworks show! Too crazy! lol If I ever tried that on either one of the horses I used to own I would have been dead! lol They would have freaked! Those rodeo horses are used to everything I guess.....I guess if you're used to being close to a huge ass pissed off bull, then fireworks would be nothing to ya.....lol
But anywho.....it was a fun trip. Arizona is a purty place in it's own way. Too hot for my liking, but still pretty. :) Here are some photos from around Warren's parent's house. Wish us luck for next year because we are in charge of organizing it!!!!!!!!! AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on cute kitten!

As you can see from all the lovely pics that the lil kitten is fitting in VERY well at my mom's house. They're treating her so well and they bought her so many cute lil kitten things. :) They're doing so well. She's gonna be the most spoiled kitten ever!!! :) As you can tell she is already the cutest kitten ever!!! Now I'm starting to wish I'd kept her for myself. :) hehe Just jokin. Our kitties probably wouldn't have appreciated that too much...... I just hope she works out very well for my mom and dad. She's already passed the cute cutely test. :) Now, she just needs a name! :)

OHHH home! Home on the range!!! Where the deer and the antelope get SHOT! :)

Today on my day off my Dad had a grand idea to take me to the shooting range so I could learn to shoot one of his rifles. I must stress again that I was LEARNING. I've never really been one to shoot guns, my brothers always have but I usually just sat and watched and plugged my ears and rolled my eyes....never too interested. Sometimes I would shoot one or two just to make them happy but I never enjoyed myself. So needless to say not too much experience in handling or shooting guns....
However!!! Today was SOOO much fun! We got to set up different kinds of targets ranging from blown up balloons to regular bullseye targets to clay pigeons to playing cards. I have to admit I did pretty good. I really surprised myself. It helped that the gun dad chose for me to shoot had little if any kick so that helped my aim a lot. But anywho, my very first shot I actually got into the bullseye!! FIRST SHOT!!! Totally surprised! lol Then I moved on to popping all four balloons we had in a row...no misses. :) And I almost hit the ace of hearts dead on. :) Pretty fun stuff.

The last picture is of my very first shot at about 25 yards. :) The middle picture is at about 50 yards and the ace was also at about 25 yards. Next time I'm going for the 100! :)
Soooo yeah can't wait for the next shooting expedition with Dad and hopefully Warren can go next time, too! :)

Present on my doorstep :)

Sooooo I get home from work this afternoon and I spot something in the bushes next to the staircase that leads up to my apartment. It's a lil kitten. :( I notice that it doesn't have a collar on and someone had put a water and food dish out for it. As soon as I bent down to look at it she ran right up to me meowing.... She was the CUTEST THING!!!!!!! I did notice that she was absolutely covered in fleas.... she looked miserable.
The first thing I did was went up to my apartment and called our apartment manager and left him a message. Then I went out to check on her again cuz I couldn't just ignore her when I knew she was down there all alone. :(
When I stepped out of my door I saw the lil bugger. :) She had climbed all the way up my staircase to my door and she tried running into my apartment!!!! I grabbed her and picked her up cuz I didn't want her around my two other cats in case she had something....(not to mention the fleas....ick) So I ended up putting her into one of my cat carries. And now I'm hooked. :) The first thought that went in my head was to go to Safehaven, but from working there in the past I knew this was major kitten season and they are ALWAYS full of cats so I knew I would waste my time going there.....and then I thought of my good ol' boss. I knew he would know what I could do.
Sooo I called him. :) He was absolutely helpful and sweet and said he'd meet me at the clinic later to take a look at her. I wasn't expecting that at all! I just wanted some advice on what to do! But of course he has such a good heart, even when he wasn't feeling very good he was willing to help me out. :) :) So as of now she's waiting at work and he's going to have her tested for FELV/FIV and if she's negative and healthy enough my parents are gonna get her everything she needs and they're gonna keep her!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! My parents are GREAT!!! I just called them to beg them to take her and I didnt even have to beg for that long!!! YAY!!! She's gonna have a good home! I'm so happy! And I'm glad I found her and she didn't get eaten or ran over or shot....or whatever.... Here are some pics I took of her sitting on my lap...Sadly most of the chewing and licking she is doing is because of her fleas....but I threw some Frontline on her so those should clear up soon! :)

Basketball Memories

This last Monday I got the chance to hang out with my old high school basketball coach, aka Grott and his "new" bball team. It's so funny that anytime we get the chance to see each other it's just like old times. :) Well, not exactly....back in high school I was usually on the receiving end of the jokes and now I get to join in with him as he makes fun of his new players. heheh MUCH better. :)
Just watching him coach his high school players and even getting the chance to shoot around with them and be used as an example for "good shooting form" lol was pretty cool. :) He had talked me up so much though that I was actually more nervous shooting then than I ever got while actually playing bball in high school...Sad I know...well that and I hadn't touched a bball in forever!!! lol
But yeah....being there at their basketball camp REALLY made me miss playing bball in high school......Well...not my senior year.....but we won't mention that......
Here are a few pics of me at State in Pendleton both my sophomore year and junior year and then some pics of my Central Linn Cobra team and I my sophomore year when we won the game to get us to State!! Boo-YAH!!!The top picture is of me my sophomore year....and with messed up hair....lol but that other girl in the picture was HUGE!!!!!!! lol Let's not mention that we lost that game....uh hum....haha The second picture is my junior year....and I'm probably about to dribble off of my foot. :)After we won!!!! That was our first year of having our painted on Cobra!!! So it was fitting to lay on him after our victory,....haha I don't even know where I am in that pile.....
Me askin for the scissors so I could cut a piece of the net. I think I still have that somewhere....It looks like we only won by 2 points....thats a lil too close for my comfort....I can't even remember who we beat here....oh well
Wow....this brings back memories.....my old team. :( This was some of the best memories of my life!!! I miss these girlys!!!!! This is minus my coach Grott.....
There he is! Lol Fun Fun year....I miss it....and I would do anything to be able to do it all over again. I'm totally comfortable with my decision of not playing college bball. It wouldn't have been the same as playing with these girls and playing for Grott. I do regret taking all of my bball years for granted. I miss them very much. Thank you guys for giving me some good high school memories!!!!!!

Father's Day Feast!

This Father's Day was spent literally stuffing my mouth with absolutely DELICIOUS foods!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
My dad bought a crap load of yummy foods and brought over his huge barbeque to cook it all on. :) We had HUGEEEEE steaks!!! Thick and juicy! :) hehe And yummy ass pork ribs marinated in two different kinds of sauce, and chicken thighs, and sausages and hot dogs, and these REALLY good jalepeno, mango sausages!! YUM!!! and Dad also made marinated mushrooms AND the whole family made a HUGE batch of potato salad. Lordy, how much food could 6 people need???? Lol But it was ALL soooooo good! I don't think I missed anything....haha
And of course we all had to try some of each of everything as soon as Dad walked in the door with it, so by the end of the night we were all WAAAYYYYY stuffed full of BBQ. But it was well worth it. :)
Sadly Mike was the only one out of the family who couldn't make it cuz he had to work.... :( but thankfully everyone else did! Including my Warren! :) It was a day full of laughter and just a good ol' time. :) I hope Dad really enjoyed it cuz it was all for him! He's an AMAZING cook and I know I can say I really appreciated him cooking all that yummy food! THANKS DAD!!!! Happy Father's Day again!!!
Wow....These pictures turned out really small....but uh if you can see them thats great!! lol This first picture is of my precious mommy holding the beginnings of our HUGE potato salad! This is Warren showing off his HUGE Mountain Dew bottle...... haha...yeah inside family joke... :)
This is my brother John.....and yes he is flexing his 6-pack........and holding two beer cans.....lol This is the beginning of his drinking night.....lol He's a goober. :)

Ok....Don't ask me why these pics are bigger......I dunno....but I'll take it!!! Anywho, these pics are of my Dad and Bro John starting up the BBQ'ing. Yeah...don't ask me what they're doing in the second picture....being goofs. :)




Ugh!!!!!! This picture thing is starting to freakin annoy me!!!!!! You can't see all the yummy foods the way they should be seen!!!!! BIG!!!!! lol Anyway, the first is the lovely pork, the 2nd are all the weiners, then the mushrooms, potato salad and the STEAK!!!!!!!!

OK....I give up.....I'm gonna try to ignore it now.......THIS is my lovely goofy silly sweet wacky funny smart gorgeous mommy!!!!!!! Yes...holding a beer and laughing. :) She's always laughing. One of my favorite quirks about her. :) I love you momma!!!!
This is my oldest brother Robbie, or Bobbie, or Bob, or Boobie, or Boob. Yep. He seriously goes by Boob by a LOT of people who know him! lol He's a sweety too! :) I love my family!!! He's enjoyin some of that good ol' steak!Yep. You guessed it. This is War and I. :) My handsome man. At this point we're pretty darn stuffed. Taking a break from all that food!!!!! lol
Ok....ending on this note.....lol This is later in the night when John John is feeling pretty good after his Coors Light. :) He had fun with the camera...this is just one of the many wacky pics he took of himself. I had to put one of 'em on here. :) Love ya John John you're a crack up!

Welp, it was a fun filled day! I'm glad we did it!!!! I love ya guys!!!!!