Memorial Day - May 31, 2010

Timmann's came for a BBQ today for

a swim along with Claudia's sis, Jolena. It was

a super warm, nice day. Just over 100 degrees.

This is Claudia's "masterpiece"...

Half of hamburger bun, colby-Jack cheese,

BBQ'd hamburger, Sweet-Baby-Rays,

Grilled Onions,

Dill pickle slices topped with a

heaping of homemade Guacamole'.

Oh yum!

Aaron just turned one in May. He is terribly afraid of

the bathtub so they weren't so sure how he would take

to the water...but he actually took to the water like

a little fish. They thought he'd scream and cry as he

does with his baths...but no such thing...he did great!!!

Glen showed him how to "blow bubbles" and he really

had fun with NO tears whatsoever!

Jolena...Claudia's sister...


Aaron, paddling and kicking...he just seemed to do
it so naturally. Nadia sitting on the steps having fun!



Claudia working on her braids. It literally takes a couple
of days to get all her hair in braids...hours and hours and
hours of work...but then it will last for two months!





Nadia enjoying the water's edge (and steps)!





Aidan and Derek after a swim!

Aaron gettin' wet and havin' fun. He just turned one!

It was a fun Memorial Day...lovely day, and a good

BBQ...and a time to remember our Veteran's and

those who have fought for our freedom! So nice to

see so many FLAGS out today! Havasu is one of the

most patriotic cities in the whole USA and if you come

here you will see why! Let Freedom Ring!

LOVES & DOVES

I thought this dove was so sweet sitting

in the middle of my "heart-shaped" rock...

OK folks, have an imagination...if you look at

it right, it does look like a heart! He/she

just plunked right down in the middle of it.

My FIRST brand new set of pots and pans, O'boy!

They are Circulon Non-Stick. I really love them,

however, just got them yesterday, so haven't had

the chance to use them yet. Thanks in part to Anna

and Zane for their Mother's Day contribution toward

them. After we were married nearly 26 years ago, we

never got new pot and pans, just had mis-matched

hand-me-downs, so it is exciting after all these years

to have a "real" set...I'm so excited, I think I'll go cook!

It's Still SPRING...

And with it new life appears.

Mr. & Mrs. Quail and their little

brood were so cute this morning

splashing around in the spillover

pot...drinking in the water and

taking a bath...so carefree. I love

watching the little quail families.

Another Beautiful Afternoon on the Lake...

Some more mountain sheep in Balanced Rock Cove...
Daniel "chillin" on the boat...
It was 93 degrees today...perfect for a boat ride!

Derek and his friend Sean.
(Derek & Sean went to high school together).
The London Bridge in the background.
Sean & Derek wakeboarded.



Sean and his girlfriend of two years, Britney.
(Britney's last day of high school as a senior
is TODAY...yay!)

Simple Sweet Scones

This is my "go to" scone recipe I have used for years and

I love it...initially, I think it was Mother's Day when Anna

was in 2nd or 3rd grade and they brought home a "mix-in-a

jar" with the dry ingredients in a cute jar with this recipe

attached. Once I made it, I have made it through the years

many, many times and you can add whatever you want to

to make it unique. Here is the original recipe that I received:

Simple Sweet Scones

1 2/3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter cut-up

1/3 cup milk (plus a little more)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all

ingredients except the butter and milk with the pastry

cutter. Add the butter and cut it in with the pastry cutter.

Then add the milk and use pastry cutter or spoon or your

hands to mix together until a soft ball forms. Pat into a

circle on an ungreased pan (I use my pizza stone and it

works wonderfully). Cut into 8 wedges. Bake for 12-14 mins.

I follow the recipe as above, however, to make it last

at our house (I only think I'm tricky sometimes :-) I

add to the the dough ball, berries or craisins w/a bit of

orange flavoring, the one pictured above has dates in

it. I ALWAYS sprinkle cinnamon & sugar mixture

on top. The additions are what get to the kids...

they think thats what makes them "yucky"...

ie: not the cinnamon & sugar though.

I just know when I add stuff like that they

last longer in our house because they don't

touch them! ha
OK kids, I gave my "secret" away!

Family Picture w/some smiles...

My brother Dan took this of us...I have another one posted

but Tom was not smiling...theres a SLIGHT one on this

picture...I thought it was a little better then the last one.

My boys...(including Tom) are not into pictures so it's hard

to get a decent family photo.

This is me ready to "SLIDE"...Dan took this.

It seems like a L-O-N-G drop. I decided for

this particular hike a skirt wasn't the best clothes

to wear...my legs have 3 HUGE bruises still...

Red, Purple, Yellow, Green, Oh'my :-)

RATTLE, RATTLE, RATTLE...

A Mojave Green Rattle Snake....

This is one of the more deadly rattlers.

Our neighbor Jim (& Lisa) found this one

in their yard today (Mother's Day) 2010.

Rattle, rattle, rattle...

Back in the garbage can....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Jim, our neighbor across the street, came to my rescue
yesterday with that gopher snake in the garage because he
doesn't mind snakes...Is this the year of the snake?
Honestly, in the past TWO weeks (yes, folks, two weeks)
Jim & Lisa have had FIVE rattle snakes in their yard and
Jim is a "catch-N-release" kind of guy...but he takes them
CLEAR OUT into the desert and releases them. ONE of
those five rattlers came BACK to their place so he has
actually had to deal with SIX rattlers in 2 week's time
plus the one in our garage yesterday!!! When he called
and told us about the two rattlers today, he said "you're
NOT going to believe this..."but Lisa and their grown
daughter from Phoenix were in the pool, reading their
books and a rattler was SWIMMING IN THEIR POOL
and actually was swimming toward them...they were out
of the pool faster then FAST! It scared Lisa so bad she
was literally crying...So, now Jim is considering getting
RID of the snakes instead of "releasing" them into nature.
He sounds like because there has been soooooo many of
them that he is ready to do away with them. Tom told
him, get rid of them so they don't come across the street
to our house!!!! ;-)

Happy Mother's Day...

Me holding the flowers the boy's gave me...
One of the books Malia gave me for
Mother's Day...

The things Malia gave me...two books,

stationary, Yankee candle and a card.

Gift card, donuts and flowers from Derek & Daniel

and their cards...(Daniel made his at school...their

English teacher gave them credit for "journaling"

to make a card). I was happy to have a homemade

one...love the other two cards too :-)

The insides of Derek & Daniel's cards.

Flowers, donuts & cards from the boys.

Anna called me today and we visited for quite

some time...they are sending me $50.00 to go

toward a new set of pot & pans I want to get.

Gotta love these kids...appreciate that they all

remembered me for a special mother's day.

It's fun when they can do this all on their own

with NO one having to say anything!

Thank you kids, I love you!

Yes, FOLKS, he's real, and I was alone, and...

Jim carrying him over to the wash beside our house.

He is dead here...a gopher snake (from what we can

tell from the internet pictures)...they can bite but are

non-poisonous!

We were out on the lake a couple weeks ago and we saw

one of these actually swimming in the lake, so we circled it

and it kept looking at us and following us...we watched it until

it swam to shore....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

(we were ON our boat...but yuck).

All the kids are at work today, Tom has walked to the gym,

and I am ready to head to the gym to work-out and pick-up

Tom so I come around to the trunk of the car to put something

in, glance over to my right just a FEW feet and BAM! I about

jumped 5 feet...truly, my heart is still NOT back to normal...

that big guy was just laying there and I'm ALL ALONE! So,

I hurry and call our faithful neighbor Jim....ring, ring, ring,

not home...so I call the gym and get Tom on the phone, he say's

call Jim on his cell phone, so I did and he was just out in the desert

walking and said he was almost home and would be right over.

My heart was pounding like crazy...it's a wonder the pictures

aren't totally blurry! Jim comes over with his trusty gripper

thingy and said the snake was DEAD! Oh my word! I was

about panicking. The garage was smelling AWFUL last evening.

We are guessing when we got home from lunch yesterday after-

noon with Steve and Dan we must of ran over it's tail, it slithered

into the garage and parked himself where I have the picture, and

died there...then the smell began. Oooooh, it was icky. There's

a squishy spot on the driveway where we ran over it!

Yes, Yucky, I know...and scary!

A Day on the Lake

On Lake Havasu at Windsor Park
Cool rock formation down by Steamboat Cove

Derek as we headed out on the lake with

my brothers...Steve and Dan (from Washington)

It was our LUCKY day on the lake....

we saw 17 mountain sheep. It was

pretty exciting to see so many.

This little one is so cute.

This adult is pretty neat with the

curled antlers. We were ON the

boat taking pictures of these mountain

sheep.

Several of them together.

A neat site to see. We counted sheep,

they probably counted boats watching them! LOL

Steve, Dan & I hiking at Sara Park

Dan going through the "crack"
Steve coming through the "crack"

hiking through the "crack"
Hope you don't have claustrophobia
it's pretty narrow through there!




Steve going down "slide rock"

This hike takes you to the Lake

Me going down the "slide rock"

It FEELS big and long!

Steve and I at the lake

the half-way mark!

Dan and I at the lake

2 1/2 miles IN.
We ended-up getting a little

off the main trail and our hike

was about 6 miles total in the

blazing heat. We left early in the

morning but it got super HOT

and we were very ready to be

back and get more water to drink!

Family Time, Convention Time, Together Time...

Daniel and his girlfriend, Jocelyn

@ Casa Grande

Daniel & Malia (May 5, 2010)
Tom & Pam
Daniel, Malia & Derek
After Bible Study
May 5, 2010


Steve, Pam Malcolm & Dan
(Me and my three brothers.)
Steve & Dan came for Casa Grande
and Malcolm was passing through.
So nice to be together in AZ!



Malcolm and me at Casa Grande on Sunday of convention.
He was there for the one day with Heather (his daughter).




A family thing...@ Casa Grande Conv.

Me, Tom, Dan, Steve, Uncle Elvin,

Cousin Ron, Daniel & Derek






Derek & Daniel

Sunday of Casa Grande Conv.

The group picture of several of the young kids @

Casa Grande Convention 2010