Labor Day - Tombstone Style

This was the teenager Jen when I met and married into this family.

She was a lot of fun & a lot of crazy all in one. We all loved her.

Luckily, her unlikable phase didn't last very long. Here she is a few years later mom of Sadie and married to JC, she was heaps of fun again. 

Here are our 2 babies only like 5 minutes ago (Paige & Sadie).

oops... I blinked. Here are the bff's from last weekend. The span of time from the picture above to this one literally feels like 5 minutes. Where they h... did the time go? and why do I feel so much older?

Crazy Cora and Roy had a lot of fun together. When Abbey would put on this hat she would say "Nee-ha!" (um.. almost, you little city gal)

Crazy Cora is trying to do Roy in. I think she might have shot him in this one.

Crazy Cora, you must have missed. Roy's lookin' a little too lively for being shot at.

Nope. I think she actually hit him in this one. Good job Cora, you might be crazy but you got a decent aim.

Uh-oh! Roy's back with double shooters - watch out!

What? Why me Roy? What did I ever done to ya? I'm merely just takin' a few pictures. Don't shoot Roy.

Roy always gets the last word in. Roy's word is law around these parts, and he claims Cora didn't know no better anyhow.

This is what we did a lot this weekend. Hang out, sleep, watch movies, beeee lazzzzy!

Let's not forget all the room there is outside. All kinds of fun things to see and spend energy on, so we can watch more movies later when we tucker ourselves out.

The kids mosey-ing around the stables.

Oh, look a baby goat.

Who knew they could be so cute or that such cute girls would ever be huggin' and lov'n on baby goats.

James loves anything with "baby" in it's name including tiny little goats.

Paige would snuggle up to anything with fur.

Horses don't have fur and here she is having a panic attack - not a big fan or horse riding (too chicken, just like her mom)

James on the other hand.... loved every minute. Look no hands!

Hey started asking aunt Jen if he could hold the reins or make it run... (he scares this chicken momma) luckily Aunt Jen said let's save that for another time (like maybe 20 years from now).

Cody was giving this troff a work out and needed me to record the evidence.

Nothings better then chocolate & marshmallows. Aunt Jen is the coolest (did I mention she let them eat cake for breakfast?! You can tell she is related to the Candyman aka. Grandpa Ron) I think Abbey & their cousin Reese got a little tipsy from marshmallow overload.

This little sucker was hanging out nearby and only discovered a few hours later. Here he is ready to strike at JC. Little did he know how handy JC is with a shovel. Jen cut off the rattle and gave it to James as a keepsake. You would have thought someone handed James the deed to Disneyland. He took it to school with a few pictures from Tombstone and told his class all about it. 

Our last few moments. So much fun. Abbey loved Jester (Jojo's dog) almost as much as Cody. That's one tough little doggie... it survived "Coyotes", coyotes, and Uncle JC (which can be just as rough).

Cody & Jordyn both offered to come and live with me. Cody tried to stow away and Jordyn said she was willing to transfer schools, until I told her she would have to take Paige's place in the 3rd grade with 6 pages of math a night - she quickly changed her mind.

Jordyn waving goodbye from the pole. I saw a huge scorpion near that light our first night there. I think I will keep my annoying aunts, crickets, beetles, and occasional cockroaches - over all the critters they deal with daily. See this post for more of an explanation.

The drive home was amazing... I took the scenic route on the 83 through Whetstone, AZ. The cool part of Tombstone is that it is really laid back, and you can take it easy - but it's minutes away from really beautiful country.

... to Sonoita, AZ - gorgeous country. The kids didn't see any of this their eyes were glazed over with portable DVD players mesmerizing effects.

It actually reminded me a lot of Wyoming (near Yellowstone/Jackson) and Eastern Idaho. So beautiful. I love this amazing desert state. 

When I got home this is what I found - Jason working away.

He decided to teach our son how to mow the lawn. It's a good trait and warms my heart just to see it. We're sorry Jason couldn't go with us - maybe next time.