Clay's Eagle Scout Project

Today was the culmination of months of planning, fund raising, and work on the part of Clay. All these elements came together today as we all participated in...and FINISHED, Clay's Eagle Scout project. Clay's project consisted of constructing an outdoor relaxation area (including landscaping and gazebo), for one of the Primrose Group Homes for disabled adults. Clay worked hard all summer to raise money for the supplies and today friends and family helped complete this project. We were blessed with the most amazing cool weather and gorgeous blue skies. Perfect weather to dig-in and work.

Good friends...ready to work

Lots of helping hands unloading the truck...getting the supplies to the back yard

Caleb Dowdy, Adam Padilla, and Kinsey Lopez were all ready to help out

Mason Dowdy, and Adam start clearing the path to the future gazebo. Hard work for sure.

Clay "supervising" and planning things out with Chris and Paul

The "Once I was lost...now I am found" hardware to the gazebo. Maybe Chris Dowdy just needed to look a little closer :)

Do you notice a pattern here? These are only a few of the casualties. Hmm, who was breaking all of these tools? Lets just say, there were some accusation...and some tears :)

Clearing the ground was for sure the most time consuming part

Camden wins the "wants to help the most" award for sure. What a little trooper.

Mason and Clay getting ready to lay the pavers

Cute Keriann

Down goes the pavers and the mulch...things are moving along

Grandma doesn't miss a beat. She gets right in there...clears the ground...and pulls out this huge root (with Kinsey's help) and Adam Hawkes is ready to take it away.

Ashley and her "baby niece"

Yay! Pizza. Cute delivery girl

hungry much?

Grandpa gets into the mix and moves a little dirt

"My hands look worse than yours"

Denise worked her fingers to the bone today. She never stopped.

Concrete mixing, done Jeff Roe style

The gazebo is starting to look like a gazebo

Mulch and flowers make such a difference

Aunt Denise and Clay

And it's FINISHED! Four hours of work, lots of helping hands, and a wonderful finished product for these group home residents.

Before

After

Amazing!

Job well done Clay!

Cousin Fun

Our winter break from school was filled with COUSIN FUN! Okay, so there was a small amount of tattle-tailing, arguing and knife throwing (not REAL knives) but overall loads of fun!

Keriann and Hayden at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Hayden, Gavin and Camden at Sea World

Camden, Gavin and Hayden and a whale

Camden and Gavin and the whale. Do you see it?

The kids, uh and Aunt Chellie, taking a ride!

Camden, Hayden and Gavin walking up the net

"He's my Grandpa...nuh uh, he's mine!"

Clay and Keriann must finish homework before playing a the park.

They actually had quite a bit of homework over the break.

Merry Christmas from the teachers!

We had so much fun at the park. We had lunch and lots of

playtime. The kids had a BALL!

Gavin on the tire swing

Camden....king of the monkey bars

Gavin, king of the tires, enjoyed jumping from tire to tire...until he was tired.

The Roe cousins

Keriann jumping off the swing. Cool hair!

Clay jumping....just plain cool.

I LOVE this park!!

This day, we went to Painted by Hue. The kids picked out a

pottery piece and painted away! We LOVED this activity, too!

The little boys painted cereal bowls. Can't wait to see them after firing!




The big kids painted plates. Clay painted things that describe him.

Like muscles and good looks....just kidding. More like football, weight lifting,

piano and ballroom dancing. Keriann painted inspiration sayings and uplifting words about friends.

Getting in touch with his inner artist

Very creative, Keriann!

I think we stayed too long!

Happy New Year!!

We brought in the New Year at the Galloway's House! It was so much fun to be with friends. We played Rock Band, Wii, jumped in a Bounce House and watched fireworks. Every little child stayed awake until midnight! Too much fun to be had!

Gavin rockin' out to Boston

Camden and Nathan at the drums

Caitlin and Emily singing

Gavin conquered guitar, now he's on to drums

The whole motley crew

All rockers have their outlet....this group uses a bounce house

We all come together for the countdown....

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Aren't we supposed to bring in the new year with a kiss?

Chris and Carmen, thanks for being awesome Hosts!

Carmen , Shaun, Me and Rachel

Elisa and dad

The Teen Scene, reunited with Chris!!

Gavin and Camden...I can't believe they sat long enough for this picture! They bounced for HOURS!!

Kennedy and Sami

Keriann, Kinsey and Savannah

Kinsey, Kennedy, John and Carver....Lopez family minus Amy and Cooper

Kinsey, Keriann and Savannah

Clay and Keriann

Children playing with explosives (next to propane tank)

Jeff playing with explosives....what else is new?

Lorraine's 40!!

This post is dedicated to the bestest friends in the whole world!

Thank you for making my 40th birthday a memorable one!

Beckie, Me and Michelle

Andrea and Beckie

Alexa and Andrea

Amy and Sara

Shaun and Carmen

Cindy and Stefanie

Amy, Katie and Andrea

Sheila, Michele and Alexa

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, the kids and I (Jeff was on shift) gathered with the vonHack and Galloway families. We enjoyed a great meal, gift exchange and the kids reinacted the Nativity. It was a great evening!

While Camden read his part, Elisa joined in. She was "reading" her part as the Star. She really is a Star!

Keriann is an Angel, no really, she was! Clay is seen in front as Joseph with Mary (Savannah). The Star, Elisa, is still shining in this scene!

This is actually Christmas morning. Keriann opening the gift from her protective brother!

Holiday Recital

Twice a year, Clay and Keriann perform in a recital. This holiday recital, their instructor Ms. Christina, wanted to give me a special birthday present...something I've never seen in 7 years of recitals. My children performing a duet!! I loved it!! It was a gift I thoroughly enjoyed!! They performed "The First Noel". I wish I could have put the entire video on the blog, because they performed flawlessly. Before the duet, Keriann performed a solo..."Christmastime is Here". She did a beautiful job!

Avalon Aglow

The Avalon community closes its streets to celebrate the Christmas season every year. They have tons of booths with vendors, food and services. They have two stages where schools, dance companies, acting groups, etc. perform. They have tons of shows to watch and games for kids to play. They had "snow" and "sledding". I was lucky enough to have Kristen, Gabi and Kai visiting from Utah at that time! They met up with me and the kids and Andrea. Keriann and Sara were IN the cool parade with the Timber Creek Regiment!!

Gabi coming down the slide.

Gabi and Kai leaving the train station!

Here comes your "Timber Creek RRRegimeennntttt"

Okay, so the video isn't that great....I admit. But, I was holding a child AND

trying to find Keriann and Sara so the little kids could see them too!