Sweet Digs!

Last weekend, it was load up the truck and take the kid to college time! Yea!

Just kidding. We loved having Carleigh home for the summer. She was employed at Chem-Dry, (and did a GREAT job), attended the University Branch, (which she loved), and was just plain fun to have home, (which we loved). But alas, summer is coming to a close and it was time to get back to Eastern Arizona College for her. Carleigh is sharing a house in Thatcher with 5 other really fun girls and it seems like a great place for her. We thought it would be fun for you to be able to see her new home for the next 9 months.







What every girl wants, it great view from her window.

Carleighs motto has always been "Travel Light". YEAH. WHATEVER!

What house would be complete without an orange velvet chair?

The "RETRO ROOM". One of Carleighs housemates, Julie decorated the den with old albums and covers. It looked really good, except retro means old right? I remember some of those albums. Uh Oh!

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

California Dreamin

Day One - Just outside of Albuquerque, we passed a "Big Rig" hauling a "Little Rig".

I'm glad this guy was making good use of the 8 MPG he was getting driving this truck. Now this is efficiency.

We dropped Hannah off at EFY in Flagstaff about noon and headed for San Diego to meet Garrick, Kara and the girls. SEAWORLD here we come!

Day Two - (Back to day one for a moment. Pat's internal male GPS malfunctioned and we ended up taking the "Scenic Route" through Lake Havuasu City, El Centro & Kingman. 13 hours in the truck Monday! It was worth it though because Rylee and Jadyn were still awake when we got there.)

OK, now on to day two. Quick breakfast at the Comfort Inn breakfast room. We had to fight the youth soccer team for waffles, but we survived. We made the assault on SeaWorld at about 9:30AM.

Jadyn liked "Shamu"

Rylee liked the Seasame Street rides.
We had a great time. We stayed until the place closed at almost 10:00PM that night. The girls did fantastic, (the mid-afternoon naps helped), and everyone enjoyed SeaWorld.

Day Three - A quick trip to show Rylee the San Diego Temple, then we visited Pacific Beach.

GrandPa enjoyed having the beach all to himself.

Well, almost all to himself. After all. This is California.

Day Four - We fight the soccer team for breakfast, check the route this time, and we're off for Phoenix. We met Ryan and his girlfriend Brittani, John and Jan at Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner, then it was off to see the D'Backs play the Rangers at Chase Field.

Brittani, Ryan and GrandPa. Yes that is a Braves jersey courtesy of Ryan on Papa.

He didn't get the nickname, "Pesty Uncle John" for nothing. If you look to the left in the picture, you will see John is pointing his camera at Lisa while she is taking he and Jans picture. That's the "Pesty Uncle John" that we love! The D'Backs lost in 12 innings 9-8. It was a fun game and Ryan and the Brewers were troupers because they all had to get up really early the next morning. Lisa and I slept in. AHHH. Vacations. Ya gotta love them.

Day Five - After a nice Hampton Inn breakfast, we made a quick trip to see the Lowders. We were reminded why we miss them so much, but it was great to see them.

After visiting with Fran, Steve and their kids for a couple hours, (so much for a "quick" visit), we were off for Flagstaff. After about 2 and a half hours, Lisa woke up and said, "We're here already. That was fast." Gramdma doesn't do a lot of driving on the trips.

Day Six - We picked up Hannah at the NAU campus. EFY is such a great, inspired program for the youth. Hannah "LOVED" EFY this year. Quotes from Hannah - "Best counselor ever", "Best group ever", My roommate was SO FUN", "Cute guys".

So let me get this straight Hannah, you really liked EFY?

No, these aren't gang signs Hannah and her counselor Sunshine are flashing. It is "F" for FaceBook. Sunshine inspired Hannah to want to be an EFY counselor in a few years herself. Needless to say we heard EFY stories, adventures and learned what a COW is, until about Winslow when Hannah finally succumed to exhaustion. Needless to say, she had a great time, made some new friends and had a spiritual experience. EFY is about one of the best investments parents can make for their children.

5 hours later, Albuquerque on the horizon.
WHEW! A lot of driving, a lot of going, going, going and seeing a lot of family and friends.

It was GREAT!

A Wheewee!

Caden brought his family over to Grandma & Grandpas house Sunday for a "Stunting" exhibition. Oh, and dinner too.
C'Dawg is following his uncle Zach's example and learning from his father. [Translation - motorcycles are COOL!]
Usually the first thing he has to do is to go into the garage to sit on Zach's bike. Then it is out to the STUNT TRACK (backyard) to ride his bike. However, just riding is not enough. We have to "Wheewee" (wheelie). Fortunately, a camera crew was close when Caden started his show. The pictures below were taken at one of the most THRILLING moments for the crowd that had assembled.

Careful; the following images contain some graphic adventure scenes. Warning; do not eat before viewing! No blood, but really close.

Caden was not injured in the making of this documentary. In fact, after the bike was pulled off of him, we realized he was laughing. What an "Adreneline Junkie".

Caden "Knievel" Edwards.

Laughing in the face of danger. Shaking off injury like a fly. AND, still coming back for more!

That's our C'Dawg!

P. S. - Just to keep you updated on our courtyard family (the Robin fam). Lisa walked out about a week ago and Momma Robin was going CRAZY! She quickly figured out that the babies were learning to fly and had hopped out of the nest.

Here is one of the little tykes staring back at us.

He had basically bailed from the nest and was directly under the tree. "Didn't make it very far with that 1st flight." By that afternoon, all the baby birds were gone. Momma Robin hung around for a day or so, then she was gone. So much for family life.

Good Luck Little Birdies!

Careful!

Them Mormons are out there.

My friend posted this on facebook, so I swiped the picture so I could post it here.
What will they think of next? Being kind to your fellow man, being honest, or maybe, gasp, free agency.

Thoughts on Memorial Day

As we celebrate Memorial Day and honor all those men and women who have defended threats to our American way of life, my thoughts turned to my Dad. He fought in the Korean war. He left college after one semester because he felt he was going to get drafted anyway. He was just a young kid fresh out of High School and a few months later he was in Korea. How about going from a kid with no cares to having to watch out for somebody trying to kill you? Makes you grow up fast!

I'm not sure how the heck they got my Dad to smile like this in a picture. I don't think I have even seen a picture where he was smiling this big except his wedding photo. Did they tell jokes? Did they threaten them? I don't know, but it is a great picture.

I think this is outside the barracks where he went through basic training.

This is Dad next to his "Willys Jeep" on a road near his outfit in Korea. He was stationed in what was called the "Punch Bowl". It was right on the front. From his position, he could see the communist (enemy) territory. He loved driving any kind of vehicle and told me that whenever they asked for volunteers to drive anything he would tell them he knew how to drive it. Then he would figure out how to drive whatever it was "on the fly". He was pretty good at it from his farm upbringing.

Home Sweet Home

How would you like to live in this? If you look closely, you will notice it had about 4' - 5' of sandbags on the roof. The sandbags were in case a mortar shell made a direct hit on their bunker, they would have a better chance of survival.

This is Dad and Pete Bush, his Squad leader at this station. From things he wrote on the back of pictures, I think he thought well of Pete. Dad received the Bronze Star for taking command of his platoon when his commander was killed during an attack. I don't know if Pete was the one killed or not. His station was on a side of a mountain facing a valley and the mountain on the other side was enemy territory. Dad's job was sighting-in the artillery that shot from behind his mountain and over him into enemy territory. The enemy knew what Dad's platoon did and was always sniping at them, firing mortars and generally making life dangerous.

Talk about a "Tough Hombre". Carbine in hand, grenade on the belt.

I know Dad was proud of his service in Korea. He answered the call to serve his country. I would like to think I would do the same if I was needed in the same way, but until it actually happens you really never know how you would react. Dad never said this, but he was a real life hero - taking command of his squad under the conditions he did and serving in a dangerous position on the front lines of the war. Men like my Dad sacrificed so we can enjoy the life we do, in comfort, in safety, with the freedoms we have. I would like to honor our service men and women this Memorial Day and every day that I live in freedom. I am very grateful for all of them, especially Delmer E. Wallace.

Thanks Dad

4 New Additions to the Family

Yes.

Quads have been delivered here in The Duke City!

To be more specific, in the Plum tree in our courtyard. The following picture is from May 10. We noticed a Robin had made a nest in the tree just outside the front door in the courtyard. The first inclination was,"We need to take that down. We don't want birds pooping all over the sidewalk." We then got the ladder out and checked it and found these 4 bright blue robin eggs in the bottom of the nest.

So, I guess we are keeping the nest a while longer eh?

And one REALLY TICKED OFF momma bird. You can see her yellow beak sticking up above the nest after we left.
OK. Fast forward to May 25 and we checked the nest again today. This is what we found.

Looks like Mom might need to add on to the old house. It seems to be getting a little crowded in there. We'll keep you updated on the progress of our newest family members.

It sure is fun watching their progress. Reminds me of our house about 15 years ago! Full of little ones, always wanting to eat and never sitting still.

It wouldn't be spring around the Wallace house if we didn't have the humming bird feeders out. I could sit for an hour, (if I had an hour to spare), just watching them fight over who gets to eat at which feeder. They are hilarious! There is usually one that will sit in the tree just watching the feeders and waiting so he can "ATTACK" when another hummer comes. You can hear them bumping each other and zipping around when they are posturing for position. At other times, they will get along and there will be 2 or 3 feeding at one time. Love it!

And in the begining there was......

Spring is a busy time for Lisa. All the usual stuff inside the house, teenager activities and school, Hannah getting her drivers permit, (OH NO!!!!) and just keeping up with her busy schedule. Well, then there is growing things. Not just children, but every kind of flower imaginable.

Growing things.

It starts in March and goes through October, sometimes November.

The backyard flower beds are just starting to come to life.

The "Snowball" bush is already in full splendor.

And her pride and joy, the front courtyard is just now starting to come to life. For most people, this would be "Fantastic". For Lisa, this is just the begining. In about a month, this same courtyard will be absolutely exploding with color. It looks like something out of Better Homes and Gardens. Everyone who comes to the house comments on how nice it looks and it does. It really makes our house special.

Thanks for working so hard to make our house look so nice. This is just a small part of what you do to make our house a home.

Happy Mothers Day!

You're the BEST.