The Great Storm

Every year at the end of July or beginning of August, Mesa seems to get one or two rain storms that bring a lot of rain (by Arizona standards) in a very short amount of time. Today was that rain. In less than an hour, we got enough rain to completely fill our little back yard. Now, granted, our backyard is REALLY small, and the soil is extremely dense, but it rained enough to fill the yard so our boys could put on their swimming suits and go play in the "pool" that it created. They splashed and dug and made a complete mess of themselves, and loved every minute of it.

(Jeramy thinks that these pictures look like our kids are playing in the sewers in some third-world country.)

One-Eyed-Jack

Yesterday, Cooper thought it would be fun to poke Jackson in the eyes. (Three Stooges style). What goes through kids heads? "This will be SO funny! I wonder what will happen?" Anyway, he ended up pushing so hard that he really hurt Jackson and he wouldn't stop crying. After he woke up several times in the night, we decided to take him to the doctor's office this morning. He has a scratched cornea and has to wear an eye patch until late tomorrow afternoon. He follows his mom when it comes to pain tolerance ( and I have NONE), so he's spent most of today on the couch yelling out in pain and crying. Poor kid.

My pretty little garden.

When I was a kid, every Saturday at the crack of dawn, My mom would make the kids get out of bed and go out back to pull weeds in her garden. I remember complaining and vowing that I would never ever in my LIFE have a little garden of my own.





Then I grew up.





I'm sure my memories are tainted a bit with exaggeration, but the torture wasn't enough to make me keep my promise to myself. We have a very little garden in our back yard now, and I am so extremely proud of it. We have many kinds of peppers growing, along with some watermelon, cantalope and (my pride and Favorite) beautiful sunflowers.

Jeramys Job

A lot of people have been asking us what it is exactly that Jeramy does for a living. Some people think he just installs sprinklers and puts a few plants here and there. It shows in some peoples faces that they are thinking "you went to school and got a degree to do that?" I'm really proud of my husband and the talent he has at his job, so I'm taking this opportunity to brag about him. (I don't think he'll like it, but I didn't appreciate the Birthday post, so there.)

Jeramy is a Landscape Architect in Training. He is working toward getting his state liscence and then he will be a certified Landscape Architect. He got a Bachelors of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from Arizona State University. He made the Dean's list every year he was in school, was one of the top in his class and he won an international internship competition from a large Landscape Architecture Firm. I am always amazed at the creativity and talent he has when he shows me his drawings and designs. He is currently working at Ten Eyck Landscape Architects full time and on the side a group of custom homes in Mexico. I'm posting a couple of pictures that he has drawn and I hope he doesn't get mad at me.
Just thought maybe some people would like to know!

Utah Trip

We had a lot of fun visiting family while we were in Utah. It was a nice trip, busy but nice. Jeramy's step-sister got married in the SLC Temple and the grounds were beautiful. It got very hot and as you can see, Jackson ran out of patience and decided to be extremely grouchy until we left.

The Monster that Lived in our Garden

Ok, so we have a little garden in our backyard that we have been working so hard to grow plants in. They have really been growing well and they it's a lot of fun to see results. Yesterday, Jeramy went out to water the garden. As he was inspecting the plants, he found that all the leaves, and the Jalapenos had been completely eaten off of 2 of our pepper plants. He started looking around to find the problem when he turned over a leaf and this is what he found:

Apparently it is called a "tobacco horntail". The thing is 4 inches long and still growing. It's pretty disgusting if you ask me. But, apparently its "good for boys to have bugs around to look at." So, now it's in a terrarium filled with dirt and leaves on the shelf in my living room. Jeramy said it will be "cool" to watch it grow, make a cocoon and turn into a gigantic nasty moth. Not really my idea of fun. I finally conceded to the whole thing, but told Jeramy that he is the sole person responsible for it. I told him it is disgusting and I refuse to deal with it. It goes under his household responsibilities along with feeding LIVE crickets to the surprise "free" frog he brought home one day. (A whole different story that would take too long to go into.) Anyway, I guess dealing with bugs, dirt and bodily smells are my life sentence until my brood grows up.

Happy 4th of July! (And Happy Birthday To My Little Cooper!)

Hope all of you had a great 4th celebration. We took the boys to a little neighborhood parade that our good friends invited us to. The kids all gather and walk, ride decorated bikes or scooters, or are pushed in decorated strollers around the neighborhood while the residents watch and wave. Then they have a flag raising ceremony. It is a lot of fun for the kids, and we've kind of made it an annual tradition.

We also celebrated Coopers 6th birthday yesterday. (I can't believe I have a six year old.) We went swimming at Grandpa and Grandma Pearson's house and ate lots of junk. I tried to make a masterpiece of a birthday cake and once again wished I'd never agreed to make it in the first place. It turned out ok. It was supposed to be a volcano spewing red hot lava out the top. It worked alright except that the lava kept melting. Oh-well!

These two pictures were just too cute and I had to include them! Jackson and Sawyer in a rare loving moment between them, and my funny and cute little niece Gracie.