Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Day

For as long as I can remember my family has gone to the cemetery for Memorial Day where my Grandma and Grandpa Udall along with my Uncle King are buried. We all meet around 9:30 and reacquaint ourselves with cousins we don't see that often and then we have a little program about the importance of this great country we live in and the lives that have been lost in our behalf. We talk about the men and women who have served and those who continue to serve for our freedom. It is a pretty neat tradition that is now caring on down to the next generation. My mom was the youngest of 11 children and I am the youngest grandchild of 64 for my Grandma and Grandpa Udall. 5 of my grandparents sons and 6 of their sons-in-laws have served in the armed forces. It used to be just go to the cemetery take part in the program and head home...but now with our own children we make a day out of it. After we are finished at the cemetery we all head to In -n- Out Burger...poor people...you should see their faces as 64 plus people come walking in at once, then to the movies where we try to divide and conquer the different age groups and then to one of our houses for swimming and pizza. The day begins around 9 and finally comes to an end sometime around 7 or 8. The kids think it should never end...they never seem to get tired of each other. I am so blessed to have such a great family and love living so close to them all.
This is most of my immediate family-minus the nine who were unable to make it. It is something we try to attend every year not only out of respect to my grandparents and Uncle but also for my mom.
Uncle King was my mom's 2nd oldest brother who was killed on May 19, 1944 64 years ago during WW11 when he was struck my lightning. My mom was 9 years old at the time of his death and recalls the day the knock came at the door to inform the family of his death. My grandmother Udall had been sick and when she got the news she fainted at the door. My mom also recalls the white flag that hung in their window which represented that the family had loved ones serving in the war. After the death of my Uncle a gold flag was also hung in the window represented the death of a solider. It was a very sad time for my grandma...I can only imagine!!

Behind us is the flag that was draped over my Uncle King's casket when he returned from World War 11. It's kind of hard to see but it only has 48 stars on it- he died before the two others states where added to make it 50 states...pretty cool!This is a picture of my parents with a few of my aunts and uncles.
On to the next stop... In -n- Out Burger- Yummy Yummy!!


Final destination- Uncle Greg and Aunt Jenet's house for swimming and pizza.




Bridget with her favorite cousin Blair Bowden

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Arizona Rain Storm

In Arizona it rains just enough to make a mess of our cars and run all the dirt from the rooftops to our driveways and patios making them nice and dusty!! But the other day as the kids were getting home from school it started to rain and Courtney looked up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers and said..."can I run in it" as you can see the answer was yes and they all had a blast getting just wet enough to have a load of wet dirty clothes to wash! But their happy smiling faces made it all worth it!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Catching Up...

Life got really crazy around the middle of April and I fell way behind on my blog not to mention life! But I wanted to share with you what made it so busy and how much fun we had while losing our minds in the chaos!!! The girls both got to perform in a Gymnastics recital as well as a Dance recital on back to back weekends...with a little 6th grade science camp in between. My in-laws flew in to watch the girls gym recital and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law so kindly stayed the following week so I could attend science camp with Nicole. Which was 3 days and 2 nights just outside of Payson. I was a cabin mom with Lanie Arnett and Tiffany Arnett and we had 9 girls to attend to, hikes to go on, capers to do, classes to attend and nights to SURVIVE!! But it was tons of fun and I'm so grateful my family made it possible for me to go. Needless to say by the time those two weeks were over I was physically exhausted but great memories had been made!!

Nicole and Courtney with some of their Perkinson cousins.

Nicole and I on the hike to the fish hatchery...the hike was definitely the best part!!!
Nicole and her best friend Bailey Arnett
Last day of science camp...picture time!!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Happy Birthday Bridget...Happy Mother's Day

It seems hard to believe Bridget is 2!!! Although she brings joy and happiness to our lives...she is a handful. She is very lively and always on the go. She is my shadow and repeats everything I say- guess I better watch my tongue. We are blessed to have her as part of our family and love her spunky personality (most of the time). She is a ray of Sunshine in our lives- Happy Birthday Bridget!! (the kids kept telling her to smile but to open her eyes...she couldn't grasp the concept)

"Cheesy" is the only smile Bridget knows!!
My mom and Bridget share the same birthday...what a lucky girl Bridget is. My mom is the most amazing women you'll ever meet, I wish I was more like her. She is the most loving, kind, and selfless women and my life has been extremely blessed because of her. Her Christ like attitude is an incredible example to me. My children love her dearly especially Bridget so it seems fitting they share this day together. Even though Bridget loves my mom so much right now...someday she will realize how blessed she was to have Pauli Perkinson for a grandma and that she has a lot to live up to sharing a birthday with her. Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day Mom!

The kids and Todd gave me a video ipod for mother's day which will be lots of fun if I can ever learn how to use it!! Todd made dinner for me yesterday and it was great!

Friday, May 2, 2008

IT'S A BOY!!!

I had my OB appointment yesterday along with an ultra sound and we found out that we're expecting a boy and we're all very excited!! We really felt like we couldn't lose either way but needless to say it has been a long time since we've had a baby boy in the house and it will be fun!! As far as they could tell everything looked great and baby is developing great...which is really what matters! I was glad for all the good news!