Dirt Bikes and Going Crazy!!

I can honestly say I have not been this busy in a really long time. Work is exploding. My new business is getting going, my school district side work (where I do assessments for other districts) is bursting at the seams and my normal job - we have a psychologist out and we are having to pick up all her work. Luckily, in these hard times, I am getting paid well for the extra work, but it is just taking a toll on me. I am tired and feel disconnected from all my real life friends as well as my

blogger friends because I do not have the time to check out all my favorites. I am sooooo sorry to all my pals in bloggerland for being such a bad friend but I'm not sure if things are going to change anytime soon. So please forgive me if I continue to be a bad friend but I will try on my off time to at least get on and make a few comments.

Another stressor is we have been thinking about putting the boys in private school next year and the deadline for us to make the decision is tomorrow. We have pretty much decided to go ahead and do it but I am really nervous about leaving all their friends. Ethan is a no brainer as he is going into 6th grade and I in no way am going to have him go to public Jr. High. But Owen is hard. He has 2 years left at our wonderful elementary school and he struggles a little more academically and has ADHD. The private Christian school we are looking at is really good but I worry about how Owen will do. He is medicated and does very well and is very controlled but I just am not sure. We are going ahead and turning in the registration deposit but we have not 100% made up our minds for Owen. Any suggestions or opinions on what we should do. I would really appreciate any advice.

Anyway, it is now 1am and I need to get to bed. Hope you all have a great Friday and again, sorry for being a bad blogger friend!!


And just because I cant post without posting pictures, here is pics of the boys riding their dirt bikes-- and a cute old one of Mia!

Ethan getting air!!

Owen getting ready to jump

Ethan taking his turn very carefully-- not!!!

And while we were at the dirt bike track Mia was asleep in her car seat (parked right next to me in case anyone is worried) so I didn't get any pictures of her so here is one from last week-- but a cute one!!!

The Reign Game!!

After we rushed home from Las Vegas, we headed to the Reign hockey game (farm team for the LA Kings). We had bought tickets a while ago for a fund raiser but then our friends Brian and Heather who have 8 season passes heard we were going and offered their tickets to us. Therefore, we took my parents, Cassie, boys friend Carson, Kevin's brother Greg, Lynsee and the girls to the game. It was a great game and the Reign really did well. They won!!!

Kevin and I both being gone for Vegas was the first time (we didn't realize this until today) we both were away from her over night. There have been times where I am gone but she is with Kevin and vice versa. So, when we got back Mia was kind of pissed at me. It was kind of funny because she wanted nothing to do with me at all. It took about 3 hours but she eventually warmed up. This is her mad face.

My beautiful boy!!! Isn't he handsome-- 10 years old WOW!!!

This was her pouty pissed at mommy face.

Cheering with daddy!

Carson, Ethan and Owen-- the three amigos!!

My mom and dad had never been to a hockey game. They really enjoyed themselves.

Playing with Kaitlyn's hair.

Owen and Kylie

Mia loves her cousins soooo much. She gets to see them all the time as they go to the same school as the boys and they live a 5 minute bike ride away. They are very close.

Watching the jumbotron

Kevin's brother Greg and Lynsee

We really had a great time and appreciated the tickets from Brian and Heather!!

Birthday Weekend- Helicopter to Vegas!!!

This weekend was just awesome. It was exactly what I would have hoped for my birthday on Friday. We flew out of Southern California at about 12 noon and then flew over our neighborhood and the boys school and just took a tour of our area. Then we headed to refuel in Barstow and then headed out to Dumont. We actually landed in the sand at the North Pole-- remember I have posted pictures of us riding our quads and Rhinos to the north pole in the past. We flew all over Dumont and just loved looking at how beautiful the sand was with all the shadows and contrasts. It was just beautiful from the air!! After Dumont we headed to Vegas BABY!!!

Chuck and Kevin doing the pre-flight check- me right before we took 0ff- Kev before we took off- Kev and I and a view of our area from the sky.

Landing at the North Pole in Dumont. The boys just thought these pictures were totally cool since we have been there many times before. Kevin put a note in the box for Santa.

Susan and I also posed by the mail box for Santa!

While flying outside Dumont area, we saw from the sky a heard of wild rams (or whatever they were). We tried to take some pictures of them-- it was totally cool. There are also some pictures of our first views of Vegas from the sky.

So the stupid thing I did was leave my camera in the helicopter so I did not take any pictures while out and about in Vegas-- I know-- how stupid of me!!

Here is us flying over the Hoover Dam on our way out yesterday.

These are some pictures of the Grand Canyon. Since we were a private helicopter we were not allowed to fly into the canyon and we had to kind of stay on the perimeter, so it limited the pictures we could take but it was still amazingly beautiful and we were totally in awe.

It was totally cool because while on our way out of the grand canyon-- maybe about one hour out- Susan had to pee really bad. So, we found this totally cool bluff and landed there and went off to pee. It was totally cool just to land in the middle of this bluff that probably never had people actually on it-- way cool!!

Anyway, that was about it! While in Vegas we stayed at Balleys which is right in the middle of the strip so we were able to walk to everything. When we left the airport on Thursday to head to our hotel we stopped at one of Chuck and Susan's favorite seafood placed and had an amazing dinner. After that we checked in and relaxed in our room for the rest of the night. I know that sounds pitiful but we were more happy just to relax without kids than to go hang on the strip. So, we went to bed early and slept in till late. The next day we went to breakfast around noon and then went shopping at Cesar's Palace. We then went back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner. We went to dinner at an amazing restaurant my brother Brad suggested-- Bucheon at the Venetian. It was great food. After that we went to the casino and hung out for a while and then back to our hotel. We are so pitiful but we again went to bed before 1am-- which for Vegas is pitiful!! Anyway, the next morning we woke up, went to a great breakfast and then flew off to the Hoover dam and to the grand canyon and then home.

Once we got home we had Reign hockey tickets so we were off to the game. I will post game pictures tomorrow-- some cute one. Tonight we are heading to the Ducks hockey game with Brian and Heather so we will have pictures of that as well. So, this has been a busy weekend but should have some great pictures!!

Have a great Sunday and next week!!!

Bullhead City AZ

Hi all.

Just a super quick check in. We are in Bullhead city Arizona filling up the helicopter. We are about 1.5 hours from home and are taking off in couple minutes. Luckily the little airport had Internet so I was able to update for a second. We have had a great trip and we just came from flying over the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular. Anyway when we get home we have to run to get to a hockey game we have tickets for but I will post all the pictures of our trip tomorrow after church. There are some amazing shots. Sorry for being missing in action for so long but we have been having a wonderful time!!! Till tomorrow!!

Helicopter Time!

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned that Kevin has his helicopter pilots license. He had the opportunity to get it a few years ago and took advantage of it. Our friends Chuck and Susan's neighbor (who is our friend too) just bought a 4 seater helicopter and he lives part time here and part time in Connecticut so he keeps the helicopter here. Anyway, Chuck keeps the keys (Chuck is a helicopter pilot also) so Kevin and Chuck take it up all the time. The boys have not been up in the new helicopter yet so on Sunday afternoon they all went up.

I love this picture. They are all smiling-- a rare moment!

Mia watching daddy doing the pre flight check.

Ethan was so excited about going up



Mia loved sitting in the seat. She threw a huge fit when we had to take her out.

Daddy put the ear things on her

Testing--testing--testing

She thought the earphone things were way cool-- threw a fit when she had to take them off as well.

The seats are tiny in the back - perfect for kids

Cheese mommy!!!

Chuck and Kevin pushing the helicopter out of the hanger

Mia freaking out that she could not go in the helicopter-- she was soooooo mad!!

The crew before they flew away!

Getting ready to take her up

Mia watching them take off

And lift off

Turning to head to the runway

Cool picture

Click to enlarge to see Ethan's face-- priceless!!

Sooo excited!!!

Moving down to the runway

And they are off!!!

They flew all over the place and had a ball. They flew over our house and Mia and I got to come out and wave hi! The boys had a blast and cant wait to go up again. We so appreciate Johny allowing us to use his helicopter.

So, my birthday is on Friday and for my birthday Kevin is flying me (Chuck and Susan too) in the helicopter to Las Vegas for two nights!!! I literally am soooo excited and cant wait. The second day we are going to fly to the Grand Canyon to check out the scenery. This could not be a better birthday gift!!! Cassie is staying with the kids so a HUGE thanks to Cass-- always appreciate auntie Cassie!!! I am sure I will have a ton of pictures from that experience-- cant wait!!!!

Potty Time!

I have had quite a few emails and questions concerning me starting up my own business so I thought I would give you the quick version of what I have been up to. As many of you know I am a Licensed Educational Psychologist. I work 2 days a week as a school psychologist in the public schools but with my license I have the ability to open my own private practice. While developing my website and literature for marketing I was given a contact from a good friend of a child advocate attorney. I scheduled a meeting with her and had no idea what to expect. After talking with her about what she does and the needs the court systems has for someone with my skills, we came up with this Educational Custody Evaluation. It basically is an educationally based eval that focuses on a dispute or question that affects minors involved in custody situations. For example, if one parent wants their kid to go to the school by their house and the other doesn't think the kid can handle the change, I would come in and evaluate the situation and then make recommendations to the courts. It expands to one parent thinking the other parent is not keeping up with their responsibilities (not having kid do homework or late to school or just being flaky) and subsequently the student is doing poorly in school. I would either be hired by one party and do the eval to bolster their case or I would be ordered by the judge to do the eval to help the judge rule on the case. That is a very quickly explanation but basically that is the eval.

So, I have been meeting with the child advocate attorney and I developed these awesome trifolds and marketing literature and this past Tuesday night I met with a bunch of attorneys to market my eval. They all were very receptive and liked my product. The next morning (Wednesday) I met with one of the judges at the court in our city and she too was very receptive and loved my product. I plan to do a lot more marketing and thought it would take a while till I got my first call but all of a sudden on Friday morning I got a call from an attorney who had just been in front of the judge (the one I had spoke with) and the judge had ordered the attorneys to have my eval done. They gave the attorneys my trifold and now I have my first case.

I am totally excited about this whole thing and I am mostly thrilled that there seems to be a need that I am filling within the courts. Anyway, this first eval will be difficult because I am forging a totally new path but I am motivated and have literally worked all weekend long on creating my parent and teacher questionnaires (specific to this eval. I have my school district ones but these have to be totally different) and release of confidential info. Literally my whole weekend has been spent doing this but I am really excited so I have no problem spending all this time on this. Anyway, for all you who were interested, there it was. For you who were not, sorry for the long post-- :)

OK, I know these pictures are a little bit questionable but if you are wondering what Miss Mia is up to these days, here is what she loves to do-- sit on the potty. She strips the whole bottom half of her outfit off and takes off her own diaper and then literally climbs up onto the potty. She absolutely REFUSES to let you help her in anyway and she must do everything from climbing up to wiping to flushing all by herself. Holy Cow Little Miss Independent!! Anyway, I know these pictures might be in poor taste but they are so what Mia is up to right now. This was Mia after she woke up this morning-- note the crazy bed hair!!

And the climb begins

Positioning herself just so

And she is on

Smiles for the crazy mommy taking pictures of her daughter on the toilet

Needing some TP

And the dismount

It really is quite funny to watch her do this. By the way, while on the potty, she does nothing. She does not pee or poo she just sits there and then wipes. I think of it as training time but she totally does not do anything-- totally funny!!

Sorry to be kind of absent this week. I have been really busy with work and I have been not only a bad blogger but a really bad blogger friend. I am so sorry I have not been on all of your blogs much but work has been really demanding. Usually I work 2 days a week and I ended up working almost everyday last week. Another psychologist in our district is out on medical leave right now so we other psychs are having to pick up the slack and then my business is really getting going. I met with a judge this week and a bunch of attorneys and my evaluation seems to really be a needed product but also most of them were very excited about the possibility of using me. Anyway, I met with the judge this past Wednesday and on Friday I got a call from an attorney who said the judge ordered their client to have one of my evaluations done! My first client!!!! I am just so excited!! I have a lot of work to do but I am just thrilled that what I have spent so much time working on and creating really based on a leap of faith is needed, useful and that people will use me. I am thrilled! So, I need to go so I can start working on getting all my ducks in a row.

Have a great weekend!!