Blog catch up May Summary

May was the start of our busy summer...

Jake's youngest brother Stuart graduated high school

Here's Luke walking with his Great Grandma Downey and Berber

Graduation was at the AZ Cardinals stadium.  Stu got lost and almost didn't make it to graduation.  We were all on the edges of our seat waiting for him to get there.

Jake's other brother Trenton and his girlfriend

Jake and his siblings

Jake and his fam

Jake and his fam including grandparents

Stu and his girlfriend who also graduated that day from the rival school

On the last day of school for JJ, he came home to this

He tested for his next belt in Tae Kwon Do, yellow

We went to Amazing Jake's for Luke's end of season t-ball party. He was overjoyed to ride a train. :)  The worker let him go FOREVER!

He finally decided he was a "baseball guy" and this sport was the coolest ever because he got a trophy.  He had to show  everyone we met, and sleep with it at night.

We had to document how close we got to winning it big. ... :(

What do you do when you end up buying an egg dying kit and not coloring any eggs?

Put ALL of the stickers on your arm, of course!

JJ went from an orange belt to a yellow belt

Gammy came to watch Luke play t-ball

and so did Aunt Megan

These are of JJ at his testing for his yellow belt

Luke's in the red jacket. Coach had told him something he didn't like. He stood in outfield, frozen like this, with a super grumpy face, for at least 15 minutes.  Ugh, he's so dramatic. 

We had a little family service at Jake's parents' house for his Grandmother's death.  They had little personalized gifts made for each family member.  Here Jake is getting his from his mother, an engraved flash drive with something Gammy used to say to him. 

More family

Jake's sister got a necklace

Here Berber is helping Luke with his shoes. They drove from California to be there. 

Jake's mother had put together a beautiful slide show  of pictures and music and she is watching it from the right side of this photo.  It was a really sweet tribute. 

JJ enjoyed playing baseball this season.  First time with the kid's pitching.  He had fun trying out different positions. 

Luke went to practice (as well as the grocery store and a few other places) as an astronaut.  He felt really big climbing on this fence.   

I tried to style my hair in a new way and I put on colored lipstick for the first time.  Luke kept saying that my lips were beautiful.  He appreciates all those little things.  

We went out to Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate Megan's birthday and  Mother's Day.   Here Meg had to wear the hat, ride the horse, and dance around. :)

Jake's mother and his brother Trenton.  He wanted a pic with her. I thought it was cute. 

He was loving being a space man. 

I was asking Jake to take pictures of my hair and make up before we headed out and this is the face I gave him because of this....

Yep, he loves to sneak these in whenever he can. At least I know he thinks I'm cute.  :)

This is my cheesy smile after it all. 

For Stu's graduation we went out to celebrate at Pinnacle Peak Patio in Scottsdale.  It was  really fun!! Here is JJ giving Stu's girlfriend Katee bunny ears and Meg is in the background. 

We ate outdoors and they have rows of picnic tables and a stage with a band playing country music. 

When you order a meal you get a salad. It was yummy if you couldn't tell. 

I like taking pics of my food.  I got half rack of ribs, corn, and a baked potato.

This is a picture of the inside restaurant part.  There a hundreds of ties hanging from the ceiling. 

If you wear a tie there, they cut it off and hang it from the ceiling. There are so many old ties,  different styles, and it's fun to look through them all.  We know Jake's grandfather had his tie cut once, but we couldn't find it.   

It's all really cute and they have a little store too. 

I love that there is an ice cream truck that drives through our neighborhood sometimes.  It just screams childhood to me.  JJ wanted to use his money to buy something. 

He also bought Luke one. 

And Jake one. And one for me too! What a sweet boy!

Jake and I had a weekend to ourselves, kind of (more on that later), and we celebrated our anniversary by using our groupon voucher for Wrigley Mansion. I felt really unsophisticated taking pictures of my food at such a fancy place.  I was too nervous to picture my yummy appetizer of flatbread with sweet sauce, sausage, and fancy greens and Jake's food, pretty sure it was something seafood. This is the next course, french onion soup. 

Jake had some sort of slow cooked  meat with a cheesy sauce and veggies. 

I had some sort of chicken with risotto and veggies.  Fancy veggies, like purple carrots. Ya, that's right. 

We splurged and tried a dessert too.  Chocolate coconut creme type custard (like a girl scout cookie) with a pastry cookie  and fresh raspberries.   

View while waiting for valet to bring our car. 

Further down, you'll see I made my kids wash our chairs, and what did I do? Sat and watched.  Here's proof. 

My family went to Mary Coyle's at Christmas time for a birthday gift for my mom. This was in May, when I re-took her so we could get the gigantic root beer.  

It was supposed to be one HUGE cup and this is what they brought.  Big cups were dirty or gone or something.  Not as  "out there" as it was supposed to be. 

My dad got a sundae.

I gave her our Mother's day gift.  A snapfish book of photos.  Loved making it and giving it!

It was supposed to close the next day forever, but the morning we went the found out someone had bought the business so it was going to stay open. 

Boys washing chairs.

Trust me, they think it's fun. 

Jake went on a business trip to San Francisco

Gas price there

Went to a game there

Bought me a cookie, brownie, and fudge here. :)

Jake and Meg at baseball game

Dbacks fan

He's also very strong

Too tired to talk about it

Meg at Pinnacle Peak Patio trying on hats in the store

We went to the 2 dollar theatre and saw Hop.  Here  is Luke with a Superman they have in the lobby. 

He came out dressed like this one day

with snow boots, football pants, soccer shirt, gun and holster, and hat

"I'm cowboy Luke"

After a horrible hair cut experience, maybe another post, we buzzed the boys' long "Beiber hair".  Well, we left a mohawk in JJ's just to freak out the grandparents.  He loved it. 

He wanted this.  This is his cool style.  Maybe he was going for Astro Boy look?  Don't  worry, we buzzed  it.