Before and After - each beautiful!

BIG DAY!

She's back!

Dear Kacey,

Thank you for coming home! Thank you for not choosing the three meals a day that Juana Mama prepared and served to you over my three meals a month that I make you plate yourself. Thank you for choosing a house full of boys over a house full of those sisters you never had. Thank you for choosing to come back to bad English rather than staying there to perfect your Spanish. Thank you for coming back to the whitest legs this side of our world, even after you saw what beautiful dark skin looks like. Thank you for showing us how excited you were to come home, and helping us remember how good it is to stay here. We missed you!

Welcome Home!

Love, Mom

1st Annual McKinnon Reunion

Ok, I've moved past the bad luck that we had at the end of our trip. It's time to focus on what fun we had during it all. Thanks to Heather, it was a perfectly choreographed weekend full of great food, explosive water bottle rockets, colorful bead stringing, fantastic weather, beautiful scenery and one awesome family. My pictures don't do it justice and I always miss somebody, but this gives a glimpse of what hopefully other cameras will supplement.

Favorite quote of the weekend ...

My Dad: "Reilly, what's that?"
Reilly: "That's deer poop, Grandpa!"

Bad Luck?

I'll post more about my weekend later, but for now I have one question. Is every time I leave town going to end up like this?

Happy Birthday Elder Shaker!

We think of you every day, we pray for you always and we are grateful for the gift that you are!

She's gonna be just fine ...

Overlooking Mexico City~

Learning to get along with her roommate at the Aztec ruins ~

The pyramid of the Sun ... she climbed that thang!

Two pesos for the potty? ~


La Pipila - overlooking Guanajuato ...
and getting rid of some crazy energy!

Sombrero chica ~

Her horse Palomo! She rode him three hours up to a volcano and another three hours on the way back. Folks, that's six hours on ole' Palomo ...
she's recovering nicely.


Bonita!

A crazy mime who chased her around la plaza ~
(yep, he's alive)

Only one more week and we get her back!

Happy Father's Day!

To my Dad ... yep, that's me!

To the handsome Daddy of my children!

And to the Dad of the handsome Daddy of my children!

Senior Citizens take on Disneyland -

If you recall this post, you know how much I adore this group of women. I look forward to our birthday get-togethers five times a year with more anticipation than is probably considered normal. So when the suggestion was made that we hop in the car and take a road trip together to Disneyland, I knew that some hysterical moments were in the making.

We left Sunday evening with a skip in our step and bags full of junk food! No, I'm not pregnant, just wearing a shirt suited to envelop plenty of junk food ingestion.

Soon, we were on our way to the happiest place on Earth, with quite possibly the five happiest women on Earth. At first, I felt funny leaving without my kids. This feeling was quickly replaced with the knowledge that I needed a little reprieve from all that I was leaving behind. I was on vacation!

The next morning, we woke up and headed to the park for two days of fast food, fast passes and fast walking. We covered both parks as far as our ten little feet would take us. It was then that I stopped feeling like the youngest in the group. I was completely outdone! I was accompanied by two of the biggest Disney freaks on the planet. Cynthia knew the narration to every ride by heart and every short cut to each event. Mary Ellen had a course printed up for us to make sure that we fit it all in. These two are both lovers of Mickey and have sweet earrings to prove it. We were in good hands.

Shortly after this picture, Mary Ellen pointed out that going to Disneyland is much like going to the temple ... you learn something new every time!


This was Val's first trip back to Disneyland in 20 years! One of the highlights of the trip, was getting her on the big ole' ferris wheel in California Adventure. I am deathly afraid of this ride, but I knew the comic relief on board would be priceless ... so I talked her into it. As I clung to the door, she gripped the cage for dear life. Cynthia got some live footage of the hysteria that took place in the dangling purple car, while a very calm Mary Ellen and Karen were amused at the display of panic. This is definitely not my favorite ride, but it might have been my favorite episode.


Our two days were topped off with a wonderful dinner at the Blue Bayou inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Good food, good friends.



So it was time to head back home. On the road again, about half way home, the adventure was not over. All of the sudden, five women were looking around trying to define the noise that was being heard. The definition would be called ... a blowout.


Since we all have sons and husbands that handle this sort of thing for us, we quickly gathered around to take pictures knowing full well that this was the only thing we were going to accomplish. We took out the owner's manual and started researching for good measure, but before too long, a nice gentleman named Joseph rode up on his white horse (or was it a sedan) and saved five damsels in distress. Soon, the Highway Patrol Officer would join Joseph as they co-hosted the rescue ... but it took all seven of us to find the spare tire!


We were directed to the nicest tire store in Quartzite, AZ, where Mary Ellen gladly handed over the rest of her vacation money for a tire with no holes in it.



So you might be thinking "oh that's awful that they had a flat tire". Nope, just part of the adventure! Actually, we were very blessed. We came to a smooth rest under a nice overpass of shade, the Calvary showed up almost immediately, we made it to the tire store right before they closed and the next town with services was 26 miles away. We were protected and surrounded by laughter and peace during the entire expedition.

At the beginning of our trip, we were talking about our older sons growing tired of the wonderment of Disneyland. Craig Shiflet told his family that he "really didn't need a story with his ride anymore." Well I guess as we mature, that desire must return. Not only do I like a story with my ride, but I truly enjoy when my ride creates the story. Thanks for the memories!

Little boy -

My sister and her little boy are staying with us for awhile. Here is an example of the innocence that he has brought into our home.

The other day, he got a bit of a tummy ache. This was after eating quite a few peanuts throughout the day ... not sure if this was the reason for the tummy ache or not. Anyway, he ended up throwing up and after the episode, as most boys do, he began to describe the event.

"Mom, I threw up my nuts!"

Hysterical laughter broke out ... and I'm still giggling.

My boy -

Ahem, can I have everyone's attention please?
I think my boy is a man!