fabulous chaos

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Clovis, CA..Not the place you'd think for a vacay! Melinda's House.

While we were in CA, I decided to treat my kids to a bit of my childhood. They've not spent any length of time there, other than my grandpa's funeral, prior to this trip. So it was nice to go there for an entire week and have no agenda!
We hung out with my childhood friend Melinda most days of the week. Her kids Brennan (7), Brooklyn (almost 5) and Braxton (3) played so well with my girls. The moment we walked into their front door, my kids felt at home and very comfortable. Melinda and I let them swim until they could barely keep their eyes open most of the days, as we layed pool side and just enjoyed each others company! Time well spent, for sure!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

ROADTRIP!

Amy and I paired up...packed up...and headed out on a roadtrip with the kids. 4 kids, 2 moms, and a mini van! She was heading north of SAC and I decided that visiting family and friends in Clovis sounded like a good idea. So the plan was to split the gas, and the driving and drop us off on the side of the freeway on her way North. And we did just that. Literally! My cousin picked us up at a truck stop on the side of the 99 just outside of Fresno on a midday afternoon, and Amy picked us up at her house a week later on the way home!

What did we learn on this roadtrip? We pack similar! She doesn't dance and I don't sing! Our kids really only need 2 bathroom stops during a 9 hour drive! Frozen iced tea lasts a long time in an air conditioned car! It's nice to have the two older kids in the middle, tending to the two younger, when needed! And as much as we love our dear hubby's, we travel really, really well together!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Memorial Weekend 2011

We had a lot of fun spending Memorial Weekend with the other Marquette's up at their house in Prescott!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Sunshine Breakfast!

Hayden had an exciting, challenging, productive 1st grade year. She had a wonderful teacher, and really progressed well. School is always going to be such a struggle for her, but having a great teacher-parent partnership was key to a lot of her successes.

Mrs. Jaramillo chose her for the Sunshine Breakfast award for the second semester. This is an award given to 2 students per class..the students who exemplify all of the attributes of the TRIBES. Way to go Hayden!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Girls Weekend!

Breaking away from the valley, we went up to Show Low for the weekend. The dads hung back at home and kept down the fort (no split chins this year, thankfully!). We had a great weekend with lots of laughs. LOTS of laughs!

Last Day of PRESCHOOL!!

Taylor finished her last days at St. Tim's preschool with a water day and an adorable program. As much as we're going to miss Ms. Monica and the whole crew there, we are NOT going to miss a monthly tuition and commute! We're looking forward to having both of the girls' at the same school on the same schedule when that time rolls around! As Taylor's class sang...."We're moving up, to KINDERGARTEN"!!!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Sanborn's 5th Annual Fundraiser

So! This year, I was the chairman for Sanborn's 5th Annual Fundraiser. Dinner, Auction and Golf Tournament. Boy howdy....if I didn't coordinate another event like that for 15 years, that would be too soon! As much as I love doing that type of stuff, working with volunteers is quite a challenge. However, it turned out wonderful! Complete from a sold out golf tournament (the first time in school history), to a helicopter ball drop..winner taking 50/50...a sold out dinner (they ran out of room for us at Ocotillo Golf Resort), and over 130 items in the silent auction; I'd say this event was a success..even if I did want to throw it over the side of the Grand Canyon! We raised over $16,000 for the kids' school, we fulfilled our goal..and then some, and we had a really great time that day/night!

Becky, Me and Shannon

Brian, Ron, Conal, Bill and Tom

Helicopter Ball Drop

Tom and Conal Me, Shan, Becky and Lisa

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mother's Day!

Conal always allows me the most fabulous Mother's Day! It's a day of rest, relaxation and doing whatever I want. I chose to take the kids swimming at Mesquite Groves, enjoy an awesome dinner...and an even better dessert! He made it all by himself :)

2010-2011 Running Club Comes to An End

Hayden signed up for running club because she wanted to participate in the swim party at the end of the school year. What we didn't know when attending our first RC meeting back in October, was that we actually had a good little runner on our hands! She had a lot of fun...even though there were races where her little ol' self was exhausted, she still finished, and finished hard! Hayden had 5 races and placed 3rd three times, 2nd once and 4th once. We also didn't know that the swim party was going to be held on a cold day in May after the heater was already turned off at the pool. Brrr!! Here are just a few more pics from this years RC season!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Easter Saturday

The Gross family invited their friends from the 'hood over for an Easter Saturday brunch/put the new awning on the trailer party! Good food, a little egg hunt and some festive beverages were enjoyed by all!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Conal chaperones a field trip!

Conal took the day off to chaperone his first field trip with Hayden's 1st grade class. They went to the PHX Zoo. Hayden, Kira, Michael and Anthony were in his group. Looks a little more like he was chaperoning a double date...strange! ;) Regardless...he had a great time keeping these monkey's in line, and Hayden was soooo happy to have her Daddy along on her field trip! He's such a great Dad!

Monday, April 18, 2011

2011 Pat's Run

We've been wanting to participate in this event every year since it started, but there seems to be a conflict in our schedule every year. Until this year! What a fun event. The girls had as good of a time as we did. 4.2 miles around Tempe, with a finish at the 42 yard line in Sun Devil Stadium. What a great way to honor such a hero!