Here's my Little Drummer

So Ashton has been practicing the drums. They are actually my brother, John's. And John has taught him a few things. But Ashton is really good and he's only 4 years old! I'm not just saying that because he is my son either! During the Pioneer Day's Celebration in Snowflake, all of my brothers and sisters performed in a show on Thursday night. Caleb, Carson and Calvin played their fiddles and Ashton made his debut on the drums. He did really good. He kept the beat and didn't get to nervous. John stood behind Ashton just in case he needed help, but he didn't! He will even do a pretty good solo! I have played my fiddle with Ashton and he went faster than I could go and his beat was steady! Anyway, I will have to make a video and post it for everyone to hear.

Peaches, Peaches Everywhere

Towards the end of May we went over to my parent's house and helped their poor peach tree. The branches on the tree were breaking because of the weight of all the peaches. So we picked and picked those peaches and even did some canning!

Carson was loving that juicy peach! (above)

And so was Caleb! (below)

Calvin and Ashton are showing off their box of peaches.

D-Backs and Dinner

Towards the end of May, one of Ben's friends from school, Rob Greenwood, gave Ben some Diamond Backs tickets that he won at school and then he gave them to us. (What a nice guy!) So we decided last minute to go and we had such a fun time. We actually got there during the last few minutes of the game. Apparently, it was the shortest game on record for Chase Field. But we had a great time!

After the game, we took the boys to the Rainforest Cafe. I think that they really liked it! Devin was terrified everytime the animals would start making noises and would bury his head in my arms. And it didn't help that we sat right in front of the huge elephants. It was a long night, but we laughed and enjoyed ourselves!

A Lost Wallet and a Prayer

Caleb has been missing his wallet for weeks now. We have searched and searched the house. We have cleaned his room and every room from top to bottom. Well, today we were wanting to go to the store to do some school shopping and we started the search for the wallet again. We have prayed for help finding it before, but this time we decided to get the whole family involved. (We needed all the help that we could get!) So we all got down on our knees and Caleb said a prayer. Then the search began. We made sure that we had all the radios and T.V.'s turned off so that we could listen to the Spirit. Every once in awhile I would see Carson stop and think for a moment and then continue on his way. After about 5 minutes into our search and while Ben and I had the couch turned upside down, Carson yelled from the T.V. room that he found the wallet. We all thought that he was teasing, but we still went in there to check it out, and sure enough, he was holding the lost wallet. What an immediate answer to prayer! Carson said that he would stop and listen and he kept feeling like he should check by the video games because he heard a rhyme in his head, and that's where it was! I am so glad that he was listening to the spirit. After he found it we all knelt down and said another prayer giving our thanks to Heavenly Father.

Some Random Things about Me...

My cousin Lisa tagged me. (Sorry Lisa, I'm always a little late on responding to things...) Some people may already know these things about me, so if you do, just ignore this post. If you do want to keep reading, don't say that you haven't been warned!

1. When we were first married, Ben used to tease me because I used 2 pillows every night to sleep and he only used one, very flat pillow. Now he uses one for his head, one for each arm and one for his legs! And I only use one pillow! (I think it's because he steals all the others away from me.)

2. I broke my arm in 6th grade roller skating New Years Eve. But the funny thing about it is that it didn't actually break! It bent! I looked like Gumby! It was really gross because every time I would rotate my arm, I could hear and feel the bones grinding against each other. I was so sad and ran immediately to get my violin and to see if I could play it and when I realize that I couldn't I just cried and cried. The bone doctor said that he only sees that type of break about once a year!

3. Now that you know about my broken arm, now for the next one. Ever since I broke it, I have the habit of putting on my deodrant with one hand. It may sound weird, but it's true.

4. During my Junior year of High School at good ol' Queen Creek, I decided to join the band because they said that they needed a flute player. So I learned and played the flute that semester in band. And all the band players got together and decided to make a jazz band that year as well. So I also played the piano in the jazz band. Which was really fun. I also played the violin in the Orchestra and was nominated for the "Director's Award" and there is a plaque hanging up in the Orchestra room with my name on it! Yikes!

5. OK, this one may sound really strange, but I love doing our taxes every year. I really look forward to it. And I love balancing our accounts and doing our budget. I look at it as a game. I guess that it's because I really love math. In high school, I took 5 years of math! Crazy! My Senior year I took math as an elective! I'm a little rusty now, but I still love numbers! I know, I know! I'm one of those nerds that people always make fun of!

6. I love driving around in a clean car. I know that it isn't always clean, but I really do try. It's my goal to wash it once a week. That doesn't always happen. :) I feel like when it's dirty, then it runs like a piece of junk. But when it's clean, then it runs good. Weird!

7. I really love to do yard work. I love to weed eat and mow the lawn and I especially love the smell of freshly cut grass. The only thing that would top it off would be if it rained right after that!

I tag all my sisters (you know who you are)...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope that everyone had a great time celebrating the 4th of July! We had a BBQ at our house with some friends and family. Then afterwards we watched the Queen Creek Fireworks at my parents house. We had some great seats since the fireworks were being fired off from right across the street.

Ashton (above) love his glow sticks! (Thanks Melissa for those!)

Carson and Caleb love to be crazy!
Here is our tailgate party...Good times!

Peach Tree

The peach tree at Grandma and Grandpa Reed's house was completely loaded with peaches. So we went over one day to help that poor tree. We picked and picked peaches and a few branches were cut down that broke from the weight of the peaches.

When it was all said and done, we had a lot of peaches. Now the work begins...we canned many of them into beautiful bottles of cut peaches and peach jam. Yummy!

Kindergarten Graduation

Calvin is officially in 1st Grade! He is such a good reader and finished more books than anyone in his class. Mrs. Cope was such a good teacher and always knew exactly what to say and she is very sincere. Watch out everyone! 1st Grade here we come!

The Last Day of School

I know that I'm a little late in posting this considering that the boys start school again at the end of this month, but this is a picture of their last day of school. They have grown so big and will continue to do so. This is how they look when I want them to behave themselves...

This is how they look and act all of the other times...
Here is how we look when we would walk to school everyday. We have quite the group. We are an instant party everywhere we go.