Body Conditioning 101

The past month my Mom, my Sister, our friend Charmaine and me have been taking a body conditioning class at Eastern AZ College. Our good friend Patti Wren is teaching it. It has been quite a sacrifice for all our families because it is 5 nights a week; our husbands and kids have been so supportive.

The class has been really fun and motivating. We have all lost weight and inches and gained muscles and endurance. We are planning on taking it again during the month of July. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will ready to do it on our own. I know it's not the most flattering picture of any of us but we are really proud of what we have accomplished and want to show it off. Patti had shirts made for us and we are so proud to wear them.

Wright Family Reunion

Eagar Arizona has always been a special place to me. It is where my Grandmother was born and raised and where my Mother spent many happy summers. As a child we always went to the Slade family reunions and loved hearing stories about my great-grandparents and their family in Eagar. Dave's brother, Erick, and his wife Kami live in Eagar now and it was where she was born and raised. So now we get to visit lots more and I get to show my kids why it is such a wonderful place.

This past weekend we got to go camping out on Kami's family ranch. It was really beautiful and the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and uncles. I use the term "camping" loosely because Kami let us stay in an extra house on the ranch. It had electricity, a nice bathroom and a washer and dryer! It's exactly my idea of camping!

We learned many things on this trip...

Uncle Forest taught this new generation how to cheat at cards...he is the master!

Night fishing isn't as effective as day fishing and a $12.00 Lighting McQueen fishing rod is better than the $30.00 Rocket Fishing Rod.

Ice Cream can be made at home and not just bought at the store and it was YUMMY!

Uncle Erick picks the best camping sites, except for all the cow poo!

Girlfriend Getaway

On Monday my sister, a few friends and I went to Tucson for a little Girlfriend getaway day. Back in February my sister Amy, our friend Charmaine and I began to exercise on a regular basis and to motivate ourselves we set a goal and came up with a great reward when we reached it. Our goal was that when he hit 30 days of exercising we would treat ourselves to a day out shopping with out kids. We reached our 30 quota a while back but couldn't make the trip until Monday.
We had lots of fun shopping, eating and laughing. The best part was going in to the dressing room by myself and taking as much time as I wanted. Dave took the day off work and stayed home with the kids. He was so wonderful to do that for me. He even surprised me by installing a new garage door opener so I can park in the shade. All in all it was a great and much needed day. I guess the next time we do this will be in November...the 20th to be exact...New Moon ring a bell to anyone??? I can't wait!!!!!!

Memorial Day Fun

This past weekend was filled with lots of family and fun. Some of my father's family were here and we all gathered at our family cabin on Mt Graham. We went up Saturday and let the kids play and get really dirty. My cousins have kids the same ages as my kids so there was no lack of playmates...19 kids under age 8! We rested on Sunday and then went back up on Monday. It is so fun to catch up with family and build strong and lasting bonds. Our cabin was built by my great-grandfather when my grandfather was a child. It has had some improvements made over the years but it is still a sentimental place to go, full of rich family heritage and tradition. The kids love to hike to "cow canyon" and be taken to the "bear cave" just as I did as a kid. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful place to go and relax. Here are some pictures from our weekend...

Papa and Grandma Joy with 19 of the almost 40 great-grandkids


Papa and Grandma Joy Larson


Adam with his 2 headed marshmallow roasting stick


Carson making smores

Brady hanging out and trying not to get dirty

Brady's Birthday

Yesterday was Brady's 1st birthday. Wow, I can't believe it's already been a year since we welcomed him in to our family. He was a bit of a surprise to us but we are so happy to have him, he brings so much joy in to our lives.--We had a little celebration for him at my parents house last night. We opened gifts (thank you everyone), ate cake and got messy. He had no problem tearing in to the birthday cake I made him. His cousins and brothers enjoyed "ice cream cone" cupcakes and the adults enjoyed cheese cake. Nothing fancy, just family celebrating his day together. We love you Brady!

Sunday night at my parents' house Carson came in the house crying and bleeding from his mouth. Adam was right behind him carrying Carson's tooth and told us that Reagan (my 6 year old niece) and Carson had gotten into a fight and "she punched him in the mouth". We still don't know exactly what happened but they were arguing over something and somehow Reagan's hand ended up by Carson's face and to the tooth (which wasn't very loose) came out. The funniest part of the entire episode was when we were saying prayers that night Carson asked Father in Heaven to "please ask the Tooth Fairy to bring me one silver money and one brown money". The going rate around our house is usually $1 but if the kid only wants change...you got it! He ended up with $0.26 and was so happy, in fact he woke me up at 3:30am to tell me that the Tooth Fairy had come. Nutty kid!


Yesterday was Parent Night at Adam's gymnastic class. Now before I go on, I know what you are thinking..."gymnastics isn't that for girls?"...no...they have a few boy classes and they don't dance around like little girls, it's serious strength training and flexibility. No matter Adam loves to do it and as we found out is really strong! He was so excited to get his metal!


As for Brady...his favorite past time is destroying Dave's night stand. He went missing yesterday and this is where I found him; in our closet playing with Dave's ties. He could only reach a few but he was really happy.
The weather has been so nice in the evening that we have been spending lots of time outside.

No we're not dead

We have been just cruising these past few weeks. Nothing much has been happening. Not much to write about. It's getting hot, just the way I like it. School is wrapping up. Mom is getting anxious for school to be out. Dave has been playing cowboy lately. He works with a guy that owns a cattle company and takes them to rodeos and ropings. He purchased a big cattle semi but can't drive it, so that's what Dave has been doing every other weekend. I miss him being gone but the guy is paying him so I guess it's worth it.

On Monday night we took the kids on the "Salsa Train". In our area we have what is called the "Salsa Trail". It is a collection of restaurants that serve salsa that work together to promote our area and encourage tourism. They arranged for a passenger train to come to town and load it up with eager folks to ride to Pima and get a sampling of all the salsa our valley has to offer. The kids didn't care one bit about the salsa but they really enjoyed the train ride.

That's about it for us. We'll keep on enjoying the warm weather and beautiful evenings until something notable happens, then I'll write about it. Until then...hasta!!