Anniversary

*The Workman Family in 2006*

Tomorrow is our anniversary. Rusty and I have been married for 10 years. A decade! How can that be. It seems like yesterday that William introduced us at the HORDE festival at Mud Island. We were so carefree and young. How could the years pass so fast. I guess it's because we've been so busy. We've had three children for heaven's sake. I think back on the people we were then. If I could whisper to that young girl that she would be a mother of three and living in Arizona in 10 years I think she would die of shock. It's so funny the places God takes you and the new person he molds you into being. I love this about God.





We have had a great marriage. I have been so blessed being married to such a wonderful man. We've definitely had our moments, but together we've handled them all, good and bad. We're better people and have a better marriage because of it. I'm so proud to be Rusty's wife, and I couldn't have dreamed of a better father for my children. I thank God everyday for bringing us together.





Living so far away from all of our extended family has offered many things for me. It has given me a chance to meet new people and see and do things I would have never had the chance to do. The one thing I'm most grateful for is the closeness it has brought to my little family. We don't have grandparents or sisters to call to watch the kids while we run an errand or go out to eat. We can't just drop by and have lunch or swim. We are on our own. While this is heartbreaking to us it has offered us a great gift. The gift of relying on each other. Oh, I can always call my mother when something is bothering me, but having only my husband to hug has brought us closer than I could have ever imagined.





I thank God everyday for everything in my life. Today I thank Him for a loving husband and a great marriage. May He continue to bless it and make it stronger everyday.

Just What Brothers Do!

John Russel has learned a new trick. One he's been trying to master for years now. A trick that he has admired his older cousins and even his Daddy do with boyhood wonder. What new little milestone has he reached, you ask? Well... the dreaded underarm poot! Oh how proud he is of himself. He does it constantly, so much that we've had to tell him he can only do it at home or in the car.

All the "boys" (Rusty included) have been sitting around trying to see who can make the loudest poot sound. Poor Will is only able to use his mouth. (Even though he uses his mouth on any surface that will make a sound) Rusty of course is still King of the poot sounds. I will have to say that John Russel is gaining on him. In a few years I think Rusty will be out-pooted.

Mae is, of course, utterly disgusted, as am I. She said, "Mama, Why do boys like to poot?" She then answers her own question, "I guess that's just what brothers do." I answer, "Yes, Mae. Sorry to say that they do." (Sorry William)

La, La, La La. La, La, La La.......

*I LOVE my Elmo shoes!!!!*

OK, Well I guess you can say I caved. Blame it all on having three children, or maybe moving to the west. Who knows. But, I did it. I bought Will some Elmo shoes. I know, I know. You would have never ever seen my other two children in such a hideous thing as tennis shoes with characters on them. I just couldn't resist, nor did I have the energy, the excited screams of delight at Will's first sight of these shoes. Oh Well.... they aren't that bad. They are New Balance, after all.

I do have to say, he does look cute in them!

It's Raining like Hail Out There!

*We love the rain!*

*OOOO! Hail!

*Our street/river*

*The flooded wash behind our house.*

The monsoon season is here. It rains almost every afternoon, now. I have written about this and all of the lovely creatures it has brought us. Yesterday, however, it absolutely poured. After about 30 minutes of straight down pouring I heard the tink tinkling of sleet on the windows. Mae and I went outside on our back patio to explore. It was amazing to see the little sleet balls bouncing off our rock yard. A few pieces even bounced onto the patio where we were standing. I told her it was hail. She was fascinated by it. We then looked out front and saw a small river rolling down our street. John Russel then joined in the fun. We all opened the front door, but we couldn't go far because of the sheets of water pouring off of our roof. We did see the little sleet/hail balls on the front mat that hadn't melted yet. We were all so very excited by such a sight. We then went upstairs to look out the back windows at the wash behind our house. You see, Arizona has washes where all the rainwater goes. We were told they fill up during the monsoons, but I just couldn't believe it due to the size of the washes. But, of course, the wash was filled to the brim with water. We couldn't believe it. These washes can be very dangerous and the streets flood due to the heavy rains. People get washed away in them all the time. On the news you will see people getting rescued daily. It's so very scary, so we don't venture out in the rain or in the afternoon for fear of getting caught.

Our neighbor came over in the middle of all the excitement. When she came in Mae informed her, "It's raining like hail out there!" Oh well, she was right on all accounts!

Wal-Mart

*Oh No! Not Wal-Mart, again!*

Why is it that when people go to Wal-Mart they feel like they can "come as you are"? We have been visiting Wal-Mart quite frequently lately due to it's close proximity and the great prices. I would much rather shop at our neighborhood grocery store, which I still do, but because of the prices I am drawn to Wal-Mart. It always fills me with dread to have to go. Don't get me wrong. I find lots of great deals, but the shopping experience is dreadful! People must feel right at home at Wal-Mart because they seem to show up in the craziest get-ups. I have found this commonality from one end of the country to the other. Literally. I have seen people wearing house shoes, children in PJ's (OK I did do this one time), and bathing suits. I have seen shower caps, hair rollers, and of course no make-up. I have seen greasy clothes, dirty clothes, and people with too little clothes. You name it I think I've seen it at Wal-Mart. Why is this? Who knows. Maybe it's the roll back prices or the constant disarray of the store. Maybe they feel like that if Wal-Mart doesn't put forth the effort, why should they. I'm not sure, but I find this so very interesting. Also, another thing I always encounter at Wal-Mart is a screaming child. (OK, I've contributed here, too) Anytime I'm shopping at the friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart I hear some child's blood curdling scream somewhere in the distance. Doesn't seem so friendly huh? I always wonder what they want or what happened. The sad thing is I don't even feel sorry for the child. My heart just aches for that poor mother trying to get through her Wal-Mart list as fast as possible.





Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm the only person who's noticed these little things. I just find it so interesting, like some sort of social experiment. (The female humans rush to the store in houseshoes to provide for their family) Oh well, I guess I need to find my house shoes because I need to make another Wal-Mart run. If I can't beat 'em I should join 'em. Right? Shopping in house shoes does seem fabulous to me.

Peter Piper

The summer is drawing to a close. Well, not really, but school will be starting very soon. So, I decided to take the kids to Peter Piper Pizza. I thought this would be a good idea. Somewhere inside where the kids could eat, run and play. Better than the movies because they could be loud and different from the pool which we frequent almost daily. They also offer a lunch buffet. Even better. Off we go into Tucson with our neighbors. We were all excited to see what it was about. When we arrived at our destination we all piled out of the car. The children squealed with delight at the sight of a huge merry-go-round visible through the glass store front. I, on the other hand, first noticed the cafeteria style tables filled with more adults than children. Weird?

As we entered the restaurant it was helter skelter. The kids wanted to play the games immediately. The lights and sounds from the play area teasing them instantly. What hit me was the sight of the games that must have been around since I was a kid. Hmmm, interesting. I informed them that we would eat first. OK. We get the plates and filled them with pizza and then take a spot at one of the worn tables inches away from what appeared to be a man on his lunch hour. (I guess he couldn't resist the greasy pizza at all you can eat prices.) The kids scarf down one piece while turned around looking at all the games. The merry-go-round wasn't running and if Mae asked me one more time if she could ride it now, I thought I was going to scream. Finally, as fate would have it, just as the kids took their last and final bite of their single piece of pizza a girl started running the ride. They were thrilled. Then we made it over to the games. I couldn't believe some of them were still actually working. I think they each played every game 5 times. Will was content just pushing the buttons. The great thing about this was that a few games gave out a huge amount of tickets. The kids kept handing me the tickets which I would stuff in my diaper bag. We played about thirty minutes to an hour and then decided to "cash in". For those of you unfamiliar with these types of places you take your tickets to the counter and trade them for prizes. It's so ridiculous. They have these two cent toys that are worth like 25 tickets. They also have the teaser prizes. These much coveted items are something like a huge stuffed animal or an expensive action figure. Peter Piper had a Hannah Montana bedside lamp. (FANCY) Of course they are worth something like 6000 tickets. Something you could never achieve. And of course that's the exact item Mae wanted.(Hannah would look great beside her antique bed) We pooled all of our tickets and had an unbelievable amount. The kids had 275 each. Oh what to get. They each got about three things--all junk-- that they loved.

Isn't it funny how something that seems not so fun to an adult can be great for kids. They didn't notice how "old" or "yucky" the place was. They just saw endless fun and found it in the raggedy games and greasy pizza. We all should take this sort of attitude when faced with situations we find "not so grand". Who knows. You just might end up with a Hannah Montana Lamp!

Lost Treasure

* There's treasure at the end of every raindbow*

I was having a major clean out moment yesterday. I cleaned out my drawers and rearranged my closet. (It's outlandish the stuff that I found and have held onto for so long.) As I worked on my closet I noticed my little red purse hanging on a hanger. This purse came with Will's diaper bag. When I wasn't using his bag as my purse I would use the little red one. It is very small and doesn't hold much. I haven't used it since I've been here, having adopted another one for those rare occasions when I get to go out by myself having no use for the diaper bag. I worked around it for awhile sorting dresses here, filing t-shirts there, and hanging pants over there. Then I thought, "You don't belong here, little red, you belong on the top shelf with the other purses." So as I took it off the hanger it felt heavy. I new right then it was filled with treasure. What treasure could a purse hold, you may ask. Oh let me just tell you. I have a habit of not cleaning out my purses when I move on to another one. I take the essentials out-wallet, keys, favorite lipstick of the time, but I leave whatever I don't need in the old one. So I sat down in the floor of my closet to find a comfortable spot for looking through my time capsule. I new that this little red purse was going to take me back in time to the person I was a few short months ago. I think the last time I used this purse was around November or early December. I unzipped the zipper and purse smell drifted up to my eager nostrils. It was filled to the brim. Here is a list:

A Target and a Starbucks receipt from early November of last year.

A business card from some friends that started their own children's party business.

A little piece of paper that John Russel had written his name on.

A key chain from Hope's Women's Ministry.

A snowman eraser.

An iridescent plastic mauve beaded necklace.

Two pens.

A mint from Abuelos. Also a wrapper for one of those mints already eaten.

A note from a girl from my old job asking for some CEU hour forms.

An orange starburst.

A medicine top.

Two sample of Eucerin Calming Cream.

Two barretts. (one for me and one for Mae)

A red pacifier.

I tube of lip gloss.

Two stickers from Hope's children's ministry received when I put the kids in, but failed to return. (How did I get my kids out?)

And then (I've saved the best for last) a fortune from a fortune cookie that says........

"You will move to a wonderful new home within a year."

You may think all of this is crazy nonsense, but I loved looking in my purse. Each item took me back to November or early December of last year. It's so funny how little things can do this for me, but they can and did. I had the best time yesterday. After looking at all of these precious items I did the unthinkable. I placed all of them back in little red and placed it all on my top shelf. Now, maybe in a few months, or years I'll pull little red back down or find another discarded purse and loose myself in my old found treasures.