Pictures from Crawdad Fishing in Heber

It looks like fishing line under the Crawdad!

Seriously this is gross

Willow Springs Lake

We went to Willow Springs Lake and fished for Crawdad's. We caught 9 and Lloyd and Megan ate them for dinner. Here are the pictures from that day

My staycation is over! :(

I had an AWESOME staycation!
We started it off with Fireworks at Papago park watching them at Tempe Town Lake from the view at Hunt's tomb with my friend Dana and her family.
My daughter went to camp the first week I was off for 4 days and she had a blast and Lloyd and I had a little alone time that was nice.
We swam a lot and we went to Heber, Az for 2 days and enjoyed the weather and getting out of town. We were kept awake most of the night by the horrid smell of a skunk outside the open window all night, and the next day was awesome because it rained. I will write more about this trip when I post the pictures from it.
My daughter Megan and I went Sunsplash on Friday 7/16 and had a blast. She and I went down every single slide and some more than once.
I didn't care for a couple of them due to almost drowning, being scared half to death, and having some water wedgies. But I was one of the things I wanted to do most of my vacation.
Lloyd and I went tot movies once, and Megan and I went to a movie yesterday and saw Despicable Me.
I did everything I wanted to on my vacation so I have no complaints.
I got an awesome tan, got to spend a lot of time with my family, and got the sleep I so badly needed and got to have a break from work and I desperately needed that like you have no idea.
I even cleaned my daughters bedroom and that was an unbelievable disaster that was long overdue to be tackled, and now she has had the fear of God put into her not to let her room ever get that bad again.

So I will post some pictures from my awesome vacation soon!
I am not too thrilled to be back at work because it was very hectic today and almost felt like I never left at all. Some things NEVER change.
I am grateful to be employed though, because I know very personally how bad the job market is and would not want to be unemployed right now and I am for sure happy to have a job for sure.

Staycation!

Well as of 1pm tomorrow July 2nd, 2010 I am on vacation from work for 2 weeks and 1 day.
I do not return to work until July 20th. I am so happy. We are not going anywhere but I am just beyond thrilled that for 17 days I can sleep in and not go to work. The only days I am getting up early is Sunday's so I can go to church.
Other than that it is sleeping in and laying out by the pool. I want to go to a water park at least once. I want to go to the movies. I want to rent movies and stay up late and then sleep in the morning.
My daughter will be away at camp for 4 days and that will leave alone time for me and my hubby, and then the remainder of the time will be family time. The only bummers I see are 1, the heat, and 2, my daughter telling me she is bored. My daughter is bored at Disneyland.
I can't to take naps, sleep late, and come back with an awesome tan. It doesn't take much to make me happy, and naps and tanning will for sure do the trick.

So Staycation here I come!

Mighty Mud Mania 2010

She wasn't really thrilled at this point to be in the mud

After she had ran the race and was hosed off by Fire dept.

This is the last mud whole of the obstacle course!

June 19th in Scottsdale at a park not far from our house was MIGHTY MUD MANIA!

It is an annual event that is extremely popular for kids from 1 to 17. Megan and I have wanted to go every year but it was always held on a week day, and this year they held it on a weekend and we were able to go.

It usually draws 10,000 to 12,000 people.

It started at 8:30am.

We got there about 8am, Megan was the 3rd 9 yr old in line. They had the kids separated by ages. 7 and up could run the obstacle course. they grouped them as 7&8yrs, 9&10 yr olds, and then the rest.

The only bummer about being the 2nd set of kids to run the course was the mud was too firm, but Megan had a blast and came in 3rd.

They had a big mud pit for the kids to play in check out more pictures form the event at www.flickr.com/photos/ninjas

Megan lasted 5 minutes in the pit and was done. She didn't like mud in her shoes, and she was cold.

So we took her to get her hosed off by the fire dept so we could even put her in our car. She didn't like that because the water was cold.

We finally got her clean enough and we were home by 9:15am. I was kind of thrilled because I had no sleep the night before but I would have liked to stuck around took pictures and checked out all the booths they had set up. I would like to go back next year but I have a feeling Megan won't want to play in mud next year at all because she will be too concerned about her hair or boys or something.

Oh well we had fun!

Our Foster dog Abbey-found a home

Our beautiful Foster dog Abbey found her new forever home two weeks ago today.

We really miss her. She was a super sweet and shy dog. She found the perfect home though and even though it was very sad to see her go at least I know she is going to be happy.

She would wake me up every morning at 5:05 am and howl(talk) to me and try to get me up to feed her.

She would sleep on my bed all day and leave her hair there too, which I did not care much for.

She will be 7 in July and had lived with one owner until he died recently. I think this had something to do with her being so incredibly shy because she had only been with one person her whole life.

She came to us very skinny and we managed to put a few pounds on her in the almost 1 month we had her.

Abbey girl I am going to miss you but I hope you have a very happy rest of your life!

Dan Ryan-for Constable and Small Chicken Little Man!

Well thanks to the not so honorable, chicken man Dan Ryan the current Constable, my husband is no longer running for Constable for the Mc Dowell Mountain District. Dan Ryan was AFRAID of losing to some one, the reason he got into office this current term was because he ran UNopposed. So of course we was elected, NO one ran against him.
This time he had some one to compete with and he could not handle it so he resorted to whatever tactics he could to eliminate any fair voter contest!
Lloyd even received an email from a CURRENT sitting Constable in Maricopa County and if I remember right I think it was on the west side of town. This current sitting Constable told my husband in an email that "this was going to be a very difficult election for him." Meaning more than JUST Dan Ryan, this Constable that wrote my husband and, who knows who else were going to see that either he didn't get elected, or they were going to make it very hard on Lloyd.
First, I find this sad and disgusting! Second, Lloyd and I took it as a threat!
Well they came threw on their threat!
On the LAST day you could challenge a Candidate signatures AND 15 minutes before the election office closed Mr. Chicken Dan Ryan challenged my husbands signatures, well actually he said that Lloyd "frauded the citizens by not disclosing on his petitions that he was running in the Mc Dowell Mountain District."
Well this is false! Lloyd asked the election office what exactly he needed to write on his petitions and the lady just said to write Constable.
We handed out cards and told everyone that signed his petition that he was running in the Mc Dowell Mountain District. But when you are desperate to keep your job that you skated into by running unopposed, and you are in a "good ole boys network" why would you want to risk losing it. Plus Dan Ryan is retired and collects a pension AND the income he receives as a Constable, so I am sure he doesn't want to lose a dime.
He also is a retired Marine, and he is a disgrace to the Marine force that he could not handle running against a candidate, and obviously one that could have beat him.
Because rest assured my husband Lloyd and I knocked on a lot of doors getting Lloyd's signatures and when we ran into people that knew Dan Ryan they said they would GLADLY sign Lloyd's petition because NOT one person we ran into liked Dan Ryan. So maybe Mr Constable knows this and is afraid he would lose!
Whatever! Lloyd and I are not letting it ruin our lives. We put this election up to God and God made his choice and he obviously has a better plan for us.
Maybe Mr. Ryan isn't aware of something called a "write-in candidate.'
Here is some advice to all voters of the Mc Dowell Mountain District, just because the only name you see running for Constable is Daniel Ryan, you DO NOT have to vote for him.
You can write in MY name or anybody over 18yrs of ages name. So whatever you do, don't let this man be re-elected simply by default write in some body's name.
No one should be able to be elected to office by default we should always have a choice.
I truly believe one day Mickey Mouse will be elected President, because a lot of people are like me and if they don't like their choices on the ballot they write in the name of some one they do like.
So Please write-in a name for some one for Constable if you do not believe that Dan Ryan in the man for the job or that he should win by default! I am, I am writing in Kathleen Stites, and so are all are friends and a we will get a lot of people to do so as well. I would be a great Constable, and if nothing else I refuse to vote for Dan Ryan, so I will vote for myself, and get all our friends to vote for me too. I am picking up a write in Candidate package and with this there is NOTHING Dan Ryan can do to stop it.
Lloyd is a very well liked and HONORABLE man, and this is what scared the current sitting Constable in our District!
Well I will run as a write in and see what he has to say about that!

WRITE-IN KATHLEEN L. STITES for Constable of Mc Dowell Mountain District!

P.S for all you people out there that forget that we live in a country where we have free speech and the freedom to express our own personal opinions, well this is MY opinion and I am exercising my freedom to say what I want.
These opinions are not of my husbands or of anyone else.

Megan's new do!

Here is my cutie kids new hair cut! She loves it and I do too. It is so much easier to take care of. She never wanted to put her long hair up and it always looked messy 5 minutes after I brushed it and now we don't have that problem.

She actually cut of 7 1/2 inches and we sent it in to "locks of love" and even though it isnt long enought to become a wig they will sell her hair to differ the cost of making the wigs so everyone is happy, most importantly Megan!

Summer

Well School ended this week for my beautiful daughter Megan, she will be going into the 5th grade this fall. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

We scheduled our summer vacation for July, but due to some unforeseen events in our life our vacation may not be what we had originally planned. However, we are praying and working hard that things may change for the better soon.

Megan had wanted to go to San Diego for a couple of days, and camping and to some water parks, but we will just have to see what God has in store for us this summer.

Megan had wanted to cut her hair for the long hot summer but recently changed her mind. She has such a big and loving heart. She is currently saving her change to donate to the Arizona Animal Welfare League, and she isn't cutting her hair this summer because she needs it to grow 3 more inches so that she can donate her hair to locks of love. She needs to be able to cut and give them 10 inches of hair to make a child's wig. If you want to see how you can help out children with cancer and Locks of love go to this link http://www.locksoflove.org/

I can not believe how caring my child is for everyone, animal or human. She makes me so proud to call her my daughter.

She made Principal's List all 4 quarters in school this year, and I am so very proud of her.

I haven't told Megan that our summer vacation plans most likely will be a whole lot different due to financial reason, because I am holding out hope that things may change and I won't have to break her heart.

So we will see how this summer goes, it is definitely going to be a summer of changes, and hopefully will end in the fall with some very good things for our family. We will just continue to have faith in God and his plans for us, and pray to him for guidance.

I can't believe I deleted one of my post......

but I did and I only did for the love of my husband!
My husband received an email from a guy that did not like MY OPINION, and rather than make life harder for my husband and although I have a first amendment right to free speech, I took it down.
However, I am posting this now!!
This is MY blog and the opinions on this blog belong to ME! They do not reflect the opinions of anyone else including my husband LLOYD STITES!
If some one has an issue with something I post on my blog they need to email ME, and not my husband as these are MY opinions not his!

My husband and I are Christian and love God, and we are not going to play dirty politics in my husband's election to be Constable, but we are fully expecting others to make his life difficult. To me in MY opinion that is a sign of fear, and people that would do this seem crave and have all the control in their lives they can.
We however are going to campaign our hearts out but we are leaving the results in the hands of our God and Savior for him to do his will whatever that is. HE has a plan for us and we must give our control up to him. That is not to say we are going to try hard and see who comes out on top, but we do not need to resort to dirty politicking or stealing sign or whatever else some one may plan to do to us and my husband's campaign.

I am finished with this subject, but I for now on will not take down a post just because some one didn't like what I had to say!

I hope everyone votes in all new people into office this election season and give all new people a try as I personally am not happy at all with the way the State of Arizona is being run or the Country as a whole so I am voting out all incubments this year, and I hope you all do to, and vote LLOYD STITES for Constable of the McDowell Mountain district!

I love my husband very much and will fully support him to the end and pray that he will come out the winner and can serve our community with honor and intergity with God in his heart!

Lucky Little Found Doggie

So my husband and my daughter were running errands for me yesterday and came upon this cute little stray dog wondering the streets. Both my husband and my daughter are EXTREME animal lovers and felt they had to "save" this little guy. Mind you we have 4 dogs at home, 3 that are ours and one that is a foster, but they just had to bring this little guy home. Instantly my daughter fell in love and wanted to keep him. We both told her sorry honey but 5 dogs would just be too much. If Lloyd and Megan had their way we would live on a huge piece of property have save dogs all the time and have about 500.

Lloyd called several rescue and were sadly told they were few and could not take this little guy. There is NO WAY we would take this little guy to the pound as he would for sure be put to sleep and that would not be saving a dog if we took it some where would it would surely be killed. So I called my sister Karen on the off chance she might want a dog. I was surprised to hear that she was actually looking for a chihauhua and was going to the pound or to some one to get one. She was very excited and was at my house in a flash to see Colby and ended up taking him home. It really could not have worked out better. Lloyd and Megan saved a life, my sister got a dog for free and little Colby at this very moment is being spoiled like no one could possibly believe.

My sister bought him a collar, a leash, a dog bed, toys, a hoddie shirt, and food before she even took this little guy home. Today she was going to get him treats and a nice crate for him to sleep in. She is taking him to a vet to get his shots, and to a groomer to get his ears cleaned and his nails trimmed, and to also get him Neutered. She bathed him yesterday and said you could not imagine how such a cute little dog could possibly be so dirty.

So Colby has a great life now and he truly was saved. He was filthy dirty, and so skinny you can see all his ribs. My daughter is thrilled because although she can't keep him she can visit him, and Karen said when she goes out of town she will let Megan babysit him at our house.

So although I was afraid I was going to be stuck with 5 dogs it has turned into a wonderful deal for everyone, especially little cute Colby!

Oh to disappoint your kid!

So my beautiful daughter Megan goes to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale everyday after School. They often have dress up days for various reason. So today was supposed to be "mascot day." Now I am not sure who or why this day was brought forward. Frankly it has just cost me anxiety. It never fails I get at the most 48 hours to come up with costumes for my very spirited daughter to wear. We have done everything from Pirates, to super heroes, animals, and UFO. I have managed most times to come up with a costume that not only makes my daughter happy but costumes that have won 1st place in the contest they have rather than not.

So this brings us to today. What to dress Megan up as. She wanted to go as a "Lima Bean" because that is the mascot of the Boys and Girls club she goes to. She wanted to dress all in green. I thought okay, simple enough. I thought we could also spray her hair green. She liked that idea and asked if we could go to the Dollar Store to get some colored hair spray. But of course they had none. Every other time I have gone there they had colored hair spray, but not yesterday.

So fine we discussed other option...maybe a hat. So last night she and I picked out all the green clothes we could in her room. When she went to bed I thought everything was a go.

So I wake her up this morning and get her dressed, still thinking all is a go. UNTIL.....she looked in the mirror. She came running back into the kitchen telling me she look stupid, and was going to change her clothes. She was very upset, mad, and disappointed. She asked if I would call the Boys and Girls Club and complain to them. She told me to tell them that they need to come up with costumes that are easier for people to put together. In her words "who has a mascot costume just laying around their house, or who wants to spent the money to rent a costume for just one goofy afternoon" and "who has a costume day on a Wednesday, and only gives two days notice to come up with such a costume as a Mascot?" Oh she was not happy. I apologized to her and told her usually mommy can come up with costume for her and usually they are pretty good ones. I said I am sorry I can't get them all right. I think she eventually accepted the fact that she wasn't going to be a mascot today. I truly hate disappointing my kid. She is the kid that dresses up for every single event. I like that she has the spirit and is not embarrassed by dressing up. So when this happens it really upsets me. Also there have been times lately where she doesn't want to dress up because she says the boys at school will make fun of her and that makes me mad. I try to tell her that they do it because they are jealous.

So I am sorry Megan I didn't come threw with a costume for you today.

Totally Obsessed

I am obsessed right now with Sugar Cookies

I am ashamed to admit that yesterday I ate 2 dozen sugar cookies all by myself.

I went to the grocery store yesterday on my way home and it took all my will power to not go buy more cookie dough mix. They are crack to me, if I eat one I have to have them all. I am surprised I haven't put on 10lbs lately because I have eaten so many of these.

Even just talking about them I want to go buy some more dough, cook them, and eat them.

Somebody help me please. Is there a recovery group for cookie addicts? I need to find one.

Me and my job

Supplies

All the orders filled in a day

This is my desk

So I am a Supply Coordinator for the only not for profit Hospice in Arizona. Some days I am so busy I never get to sit down and some days I am so bored I can't stand it.

I have 3 volunteers that come in a few days a week and help me pull my supply orders. This I am extrememly grateful for. I average 85 orders a day. That is not to say that is the number I pull everyday. Some days I pull 140 and some day it is only 60. When I am alone I can pull 70 order between 8 am and noon.

Well lately I have had so much help I have hardly had to pull any order because of all my helpers. I still have a ton of other things to do like order inventory and do special order request and such.

So yesterday I was a little bored and I had brought my camera to work and so I took a few pictures of myself and where I work......

The pictures from Megan's Dance

She had such a blast. Even though her date was not really into dancing with her. So I danced with her all night. It was just a bunch of fun though. A great time was had by all.
We all went out to dinner afterward and had Mediterranean food.
Austin and Megan make a real cute couple.
I hope they are life long friend and then marry one day.

Megan's BIG date tonight!

Well Megan is going on an unofficial date today with an older boy!
Who is the boy you ask?
Well his name is Austin, he is the son of our friends Lance and Michelle. He is 11yrs old and just a sweet kid.
They are going to a Sock Hop tonight at Austin's school. Megan will be wearing a pink poodle skirt complete with petticoat, saddle shoes and a ponytail. I could not talk her into wearing the cat eye glasses though.
I will be for sure taking lots of pictures tonight for sure.

When I ask Megan if she was interested in going with Austin, she asked "why does he want ME to go with him, he is older than me." I said, "well I hear he thinks you are cute." I said "so do you want to go?" She says "well Mom he thinks I am cute so I don't want to disappoint him."
Seriously how cute is that? She has met him before but could not remember what he looked like so I had Michelle send me a picture of Austin on my cell phone. I sent it to Megan and she showed all her friends at school and now has it as her screen saver on her cell phone.

So tonight is finally here and I hope the adults leave the kids alone and they have a good time, and by this I mean I hope Megan's Big Daddy Lloyd doesn't threaten Austin if he gets near Megan for at least two reason. One it is a dance so that requires them to get a little close. Two, because they are just kids and kids at this age are not in to kissing and doing that kid of stuff with each other. At this age kids may say they have a boyfriend or a girlfriend but typically they don't even talk to each other. What typically happens at this age if a boy likes a girl they chase them on the playground or the boy will be mean to the girl. If a girl likes a boy they just giggle and laugh about it with their girl friends. So Lloyd chill out you have nothing to worry about. Please do not tease them or embarrass them. Just let them have fun!

So tomorrow I will post pictures of the dance! I think I may be more excited then they are!

My beautiful smart Daughter-Megan

I am so very proud of my daughter Megan.

Sometimes I look at her and thank God for giving me such a beautiful and smart daughter.

Sometimes I wonder if she is actually mine because she is so smart and beautiful. I know I wasn't that way when I was younger and I still am not.

She is such and animal lover she thinks that every bug has a right to live and that people should never hunt animals. Her first word was DOG, so I am not surprised. We never had dogs when her Father and I were married, but now she has 4. We foster for Arizona Border Collie Rescue and she just loves it. I love animals but I don't quite have the same love for ALL animals like bugs.

We do have some things in common. She has an enormous heart and is very sensitive. Which sometimes can not be such a good thing as it can lead to having a broken heart very easily.

Well here are a couple of pictures of her getting her 2nd quarter Principal list award, and she received one last quarter as well. She received all A's and just one B. I am so very proud of her. She has always been very good about doing her homework since Kindergarten.

They would send home 5 days worth of homework on Monday and she would insist on doing it ALL the day she brought it home.

I blame her being so smart on breastfeeding her until she was 2 years old, but a Doctor told me that it wasn't the case. She said she knew plenty of kids that were breastfed that weren't anywhere near as smart as Megan. The Doctor said it was genes and that I spent a lot of time reading to her and working with her.

Which is true, I have read to her every night since she was about 1 1/2 years old. Given a choice between staying up late but me not reading her a book, or going to bed extra early and that I would read her a book.....she always chose to go to bed early so I would read to her.

I still read to her to this day. I love to read to her and with her.

Her teachers all think that Megan taught herself to read in Kindergarten. I started Megan in Kindergarten when she was 4 1/2 years old. I was so scared that it would be too much for her and she couldn't handle it, yet at the same time I thought she was ready. She could recognize all the letters of the alphabet since she was 2, even before she could sing the song. But when she started kindergarten she didn't know that sounds of the letters. So I thought I was a bad mom. Well by the end of Kindergarten she could read a Dr Seuss book, ANY Dr. Seuss book. At first

I thought that I had read them to her so many times that maybe she had just memorized them, but that was not the case. She could in fact read!

So my baby girl is so very special! I love her and I truly and grateful every day of my life that I have her and that she is my daughter. She is sweet, smart, beautiful and just the best kid!

I LOVE YOU MEGAN RUTHIE!!!!

Weekend Fun

So this last weekend my husband Lloyd decided that we should go Gold panning. Whic it actually was a great time to do it. We had just had a ton of rain with lots of wash and rivers flooding which moves lots of sediment and ground that hasn't been moved in a while.

Of Course we didn't find any gold but it was a good time. When I lived in Northern California I use to go gold panning on the American River outside of Auburn.

We would have stayed longer but it was freezing cold and about to rain. We also really needed to have some sifters to make it a little easier to find gold. Straight panning is very hard and time consuming.

Megan had a great time and it was just a lot of fun for the whole family.