Chicago....

Last weekend Rich and I attended an EF meeting in Chicago...it was beautiful! sunny and mostly warm and NOT windy!!

We had a fun time, got to hang out with old friends and got alot of great instruction regarding our role in EF and how to do it better! Rich and I at Navy Pier...
Our Arizona group took a limo to dinner one night...surprisingly cheap!
Johnny, Rich, a gal from another state, lynn, a gal from the italian office, Dayton, Debbie, me, Tom, my mom, Natalie and Nelda...and Hanne up there payin the bill!
and Sara was taking the picture! thanks Sara

Lake Michigan.....Wrigley Field...

Very interesting bleacher seats about the buildings outside the park (click on it and check it out!)

and we even got to take in a performance of the BLUE MAN GROUP!

super entertaining and interesting....alittle weird even! lol

Wrestlers....

Noah and Sawyer participated in a little kids wrestling "workshop" this past week...second year that they have done it and they love it...i think they have alittle advantage because they are always wrestling each other at home. This year was not as easy for them as last year was and they can see that they have alot of work to do if they want to become better at this sport. They were able to add a few new moves to their small repertor...then at the end of the week they did a little tournament for the boys to see how they could do and to receive alittle hardware for their efforts.

Sawyer making his move......

more Sawyer moves....

Noah taking his first win...

Noah took 1st in his weight class...

Noah with his Medal

A very somber Sawyer took 3rd place this year....he took 1st last year so was kind of expecting to do alittle better this year...would have, if those darn wrestling crazy Mogollon kids would not have come over for the tournament! LOL



Here is alittle video footage of Noah's match

Best friends?

As much as they deny it, and as much as they don't want us to believe that it is true....its moments like this that restore my faith that they really are......

BEST FRIENDS

(SIDE NOTE: immediately following the taking of this picture I was chased down and begged to delete it! LOL)

Crazy weekend!

Here is the weekend update....Finally!

It was such a crazy busy weekend....

We left here EARLY Friday morning so that we could make it over to the metro center area by 11:15 for Austins Award Luncheon. We had to stop and drop off the rest of the kids(due to limited seating) at Tammy's so it was a rush.

We arrived at the awards luncheon with Granny in tow....

Austin's teacher also came down for the occasion and we were grateful that she could make it.

There were 9 students that received the "I can do it" award from the Council for exceptional Children on the state level. It was a great honor and opportunity for Austin.

Here is the slide that they showed while they were talking about Austin's Accomplishments.
You can click on it to enlarge it which will allow you to read it.

and we are....SO very proud of you Austin for being who you are and accomplishing all that you do. You are an inspiration to many!

once the luncheon was over we raced back to Tammy's to drop off Granny and to pick up the rest of the group....from there we raced over to Apache Junction to try to catch Hayden's track meet which had already started. By the time we got there we had already missed the discus...he took 4th in that. After that he and 3 other boys did a shuttle hurdle relay (which we had never seen before but it was really fun to watch) and they took 1st. After that he was in an 800 medley relay and they took 2nd. From there we watched him do Shot put. We left before the results for that were given. He did fine in his "heat" but I think of all the boys he probably took 5th or 6th.

From there we ran to check into our hotel before meeting Lynn and her family for dinner. Our boys love the golden corral so that was their choice of where to go for dinner...BIG MISTAKE!

that place was an absolute zoo....loud, crowded, people up and down reloading plates, too small of plates so you had to get up and down ALOT...small space to try to maneuver! it was just nuts! i think we will stick to going there for lunch only. After that we had to Run Hayden over to the coliseum to catch his favorite cheerleader in competition. Then back to the hotel for swimming.

The next day we slept in alittle! THANKFULLY....then off for some lunch at in-and-out

Then we parted ways as Taylor and I went to Jessica's Bridal shower and Rich took the boys to a spring training game. The boys had a blast and we girls did too....

Here is our beautiful bride-to-be showing off her lovely bow-quet!

Congrats Jessica....its right around the corner...then you can relax and breath and enjoy married life!

next up....CHICAGO!

Should have....

Lots to report after the weekend...

we are heading to the valley Friday for

Austins Award Luncheon for the council for exceptional children

Hayden's track meet

Jessica's Bridal shower

Track meet in Flagstaff....

Didn't go so well...

it was a big track meet with lots of schools...Rich estimated that there were probably 48 kids that ran the 800



Hayden Threw the shot and took 8th place


and he ran the 800 in 2:13 putting him in 9th place



looks like hes got some work to do.....

Happy Birthday Hayden!

I absolutely can not believe that Hayden is 19 years old!

it is just not possible that the time has slipped by so quickly...

It just seems like yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting his arrival!

two days before he was born I was at the hospital visiting my Best Friend Karen...

we had gone to the hospital for our birthing class and Karen had just had her baby, Nicole.

Karen and I went to the same doctor and the same hospital and we were both due with our third babies at the same time. THAT was fun...

After our birthing class we went up to visit Karen and see the new baby and as we were leaving I joked that I would be back before she left.

That was on the 1st...little did I know that I WOULD be back before she left...

A few weeks before Hayden was born I went to the doctor and he told me that Hayden had turned breech and he decided that he would schedule a c-section but told me to come back in a week and we would talk about it then. So when i went back a week later i was fully expecting him to send me over to the hospital as i was already dilated to 2. He did schedule me but not for another week. I remember leaving the doctors office VERY disappointed and cried on the way home. I did not want to wait any longer..I was ready to have this baby and I had hoped he would tell me that they would deliver that very day...or the next at the longest.

That night we went over to the hospital for our birthing class and to visit Karen and her baby that she had just delivered. We talked and visited and held the baby and when it was time to go we joked about me being back and Nicole and Hayden sharing the nursery together.

We went home...around 10pm my contractions started. We got ready and headed for the hospital right away knowing that he was breech and that we would have to have a c-section. When we got to the hospital, we stuck our head in Karen's room and said..."guess what! where back!" we had a good laugh about that...

Luckily our doctor was already at the hospital that night delivering a few other babies. I can remember how kind and compassionate he was. I was scared! They checked the babies position with an ultrasound ..he was still breech...The doctor checked me for dilation and realized at that point that the cord was covering my cervix and that the baby was standing on it (footling breech)....DANGER! DANGER! So then our peaceful delivery turned into an emergency C-section...if my water were to break then the cord would have delivered before the baby (prolapsed cord) and this was very dangerous and would cut off oxygen to the baby...we would have a dire situation if this were to happen. So they prep me quickly for delivery. I can still remember the doctor (looking compassionately at me) poking me over and over asking me if i could feel it...he was in a hurry to get that baby out and he was waiting until the epidural kicked in. The second i said i could not feel it, he was cutting. I remember the horrible feeling of having him move organs around. It was soooo uncomfortable. Before i knew it, he had our baby out and all was right with the world! A healthy, loud, baby boy!

Hayden Wayne Jones

March 3, 1990

1:35am

7lbs 11oz

21 inches

Be sure to.....

stop in here(http://cmcculloughfamily.blogspot.com/) today and join the party! even if you dont know the birthday girl, wish her a happy birthday anyways...it will be fun!

We may have a runner on our hands....

Hayden is going out for track and they did their team qualifiers today. He tried for disk and got second so he will be doing that event again and he tried for the 800 meter run. Last year he ran this one time just for fun and came in second but the football coach would not let him run long distance because he could not afford for him to loose any weight for football season so he just stuck to the throwing events. Now that football is over and there is no worry about keeping the pounds on, he wanted to try for the 800. Well he came in first and beat all the amazing long distance runners on our team by 7 seconds....his time was 2:14 ....the crazy part is that he did this without any conditioning or running AT ALL since football ended. We are pretty jazzed about his potential. The school record in the 800 is just over 2:00 and the 1A-5A record is 1:50....we shall see if he can shave a good amount of time off between now and State...I dont know if he will be breaking any records but he should be a good contender to get to state. It will be fun to watch. Check back for updates...his first meet is next Wednesday and then on Friday of next week as well.

They will tryout for more events prior to next wed. He is hoping to do shot and the 800 relay as well.

Check this out...

Check this little chick out....

She lives here locally, goes to school with Taylor, and Brittnee worked with her dad at the Ranch.

Some pretty good stuff....

http://www.myspace.com/zelladaymusic

ok...that is creepy!

We were right.....it really was the Bush compound!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_compound

Quick trip to....

Boston....for meetings with EF, afforded us a quick run up the coast to Maine, just ....because

Lynn and I had to make a quick trip up to Boston and decided to go a day early to see some sites(mostly to go shopping in Freeport LOL) She and I were in Boston last year and saw all the Boston sites then, so we rented a car and drove up to Maine for the day. We were headed for Freeport for some outlet shopping but decided to jump off the TOLL way in Kennebunkport just to say we did! It was the cutest, quaintest town ever and We were sure it was 100X better in the summer!.....here are a few pictures from our travel around town.

The Bush Compound....ok....so maybe not but after seeing all the houses in town we decided this was the best candidate. (that we could see from the road) it was secluded and had security to the max...cameras, gates, guard booth etc...


We drove to the beach...sooo cute, the beach cottages were.




Felt like it was right out of a movie....

and....AND...I had a bowl of New England Claim Choweder....IN....NEW ENGLAND!!
and, YES....to answer your burning question....it was alittle different then Pinetop Claim Chowder!

Mammoth...

A few pictures from Hayden's trip to Mammoth......

You can click on the picture to make it larger and easier to see
Some of his best friends......

OH MY.....................

Coming down off the wall

Can you pick Hayden out from this line up??

He had a great time on his trip...on one particular day it snowed 2 Feet....nothing better then snowboarding through 2 feet of fresh powder!

It's a ......

Brittnee had her detailed ultrasound today, so its officially a girl instead of most likely a girl!

she will be posting more about it on her blog when she gets home

Austin's award...

ok here is the scoop...
yesterday i received a call from Austin's teacher. She had submitted a letter a while back to nominate Austin for his accomplishments with the Council for Exceptional Children. Every year they award 8 students from all of the state of Arizona for their accomplishments...this is what AZCEC was looking for......

Do you know that special student who excels despite their disability?
AZCEC wants to recognize those students who exhibit the "I CAN DO IT!" attitude by doing their best in academics, art, athletics, community service, employment, self-advocacy, technology or independent life skills.

sooooo Austin' teacher received this letter yesterday....


2-09-09

Dear nominating teachers,

Thank you all so very much for your dedication to recognizing students with special needs and their successes during this school year. We had an unbelievable amount of nominations this year making it extremely difficult to narrow down our award recipients to keep within the designated maximum of 8. (I believe I went over by 1…..and really can’t go above that number due to the very tight time constraints of the luncheon.). Again, I appreciate your nominations and encourage you to hang on to them and resubmit next year if your student was not selected this year.

Decisions were based primarily on the accomplishments of the students, rather than the severity of the disability. The award is given for persistence and going above and beyond to be successful despite the disability, whatever that may be. Please understand that all of the nominations were well founded and all of the students worthy of recognition, but we are limited in how many we can select.


Attached is the list of those students that have been selected for this years’ I Can Do It’ Awards.

Thank you for your time and energy!! Hope you are planning to attend the 2009 CEC Law Conference on March 6th, whether your student was selected or not! (Registration form also attached.)


Sincerely,

Dianne Grayson

Dianne Grayson
AZ CEC

“I CAN DO IT “
2009 Award Recipients

Nathan Beardsley Centennial High 12th grade
Nicholas Garcia Cactus Middle School 8th grade
Joshua Morris Frontier Elementary 7th grade
Denny Allen Trevor Browne High 11th grade
Lacey White Thunder Mtn. Middle 6th grade
Bertha Andrade Chandler High 12th grade
Jacob Arvizo Willis Junior High 8th grade
Austin Jones Blue Ridge High 12th grade
Alex Imafidon Chaparral High HS - grade?


sooooo we will attend an awards luncheon with Austin on March 6th
We are so proud of Austin! They will also be coming out to take his picture for the paper. He is pretty excited about that.

Here is the letter that was submitted on his behalf

Austin Jones is a student in our Resource Set Contained (RSC) program at Blue Ridge High School. He has unduplicated self-assurance, character and genuine regard for others which defines his "I can do it" attitude. He has given Blue Ridge Unified School District he idea of community. He does not separate himself or others, or others from himself. Austin has established friendships with his peers in and outside of the special education programs. He walks our hallways with sincere greetings; boisterous teases and is aware of those who need assistance. He sees what he likes and looks for those who can help him get it, and always makes sure his friends can have it too. Austin knows nearly all of the students and staff by name. He has clearly demonstrated self confidants and releases all his inhibitions toward new and unfamiliar things.
In one instance Austin greatly wanted to be a member of the high school marching band. He took charge. He inquired and discussed how to achieve this with the band director, his parents and myself on how to make this happen. The team successfully made arrangements for Austin to join the band the upcoming fall. However, the band director moved. Although we reassured Austin that he would still be allowed to participate, he did not want there to be any doubt. So, over the summer he came to the school for band camp and to secure his place. Since that summer Austin has carried and loaded band equipment, joined practices, traveled with the band and has encouraged all who see him to join the Blue Ridge High School Marching band, His persistence and hard work paid off, not only did Austin have the earned honor of performing with the band this year at school events but he dressed, marched and played the drums during the 3A High School Football Championship game.
Austin has given to Blue Ridge far more then Blue Ridge has given to him.

Austin gets an AWESOME award....

more info to come shortly!

Awesome Hawaii picture

My sister just sent this to me so i had to share...this is a picture of our entire group(minus the adults) of kids that we had in Hawaii this year. This was taken at the Polynesian cultural center. You can click on it to enlarge it. Great group of kids

Sunday...

Rich, Austin and Taylor spoke in church today and I think they all did a great job! Hayden was suppose to speak but when he figured out that it was the same day they would be coming home from the snowboard trip he had to back out and thankfully Taylor said she would take his place. You guys did great!

Hayden is on his way home from the Mammoth trip and i think he had the time of his life...maybe i will have pictures to post once he gets back. He did say that they had 2 feet of new powder that they got to board in yesterday! he was pretty jazzed about that. He is a very happy little camper!

Rich got a new calling today as well...he will be the 1st councilor in the Young men's presidency and he is really excited about that. He has been a Sunday school teacher for the youth for years, off and on but he has always secretly wanted to be in YMs but never has been so he is super jazzed for this new challenge.

the surprise....

This was the surprise.... I took Noah, Sawyer and Taylor to see the Lion King last night. It was really good (even from the nose bleed seats) I had been teasing them for weeks that i had something fun planned but would not tell them what it was...they were pleasantly surprised!

Different directions....

What a crazy weekend we have....Hayden left Wednesday for Mammoth, snowboarding with the ski club from school. Austin left today for flagstaff for a Skills competition with the school. I am taking Noah, Sawyer and Taylor to the valley tomorrow for a **surprise** and Rich has a meeting at work Saturday...so Quade gets to go to his helper from school's house to hang out with her family for the afternoon....and then, we have to hope that we all make it home(there is a snow storm blowin' in) as Rich, Austin and Taylor have to speak in church on Sunday!

whewww I'm exhausted already and tomorrow isn't even here yet!