So, wow...I'm really bad at this!

Life has just been crazy over the last 6 weeks. I'll give a quick update....on Sunday, June 6th, my family left to visit my Uncle Tedd & Aunt Cheryl's new house in Indio (Palm Springs area) and had SUCH a great time. They have a beautiful home there with a pool, spa & bbq in the backyard on the 3rd hole of their country club golf course! :) Yeah...that's how our family rolls! :) We were able to relax and have fun, watch the end of the final 4 in college basketball and just have a great time catching up and chatting! On Monday morning, Uncle Tedd, Brice, Emilie and I played the Indio Municipal Golf Course. Although it was loads of fun, it was so frustrating not playing very well! I am a beginner, but I've always done pretty well for a beginner and it was NOT evident when we played. I think I cussed more than I have in a LONG time at the stupid golf clubs and balls! :) Here are a couple of pictures from our game...

Neat palm tree shot on the golf course...

Uncle Tedd looking so professional...

What a nice shot...yeah right...can you see the blur of the ball shanking to the right?!!!

Good form, Brice, good form! (Hole 17)

Em looking pretty nice on Hole 16.

Cole driving around Uncle Tedd & Grandma in the golf cart near the house...

On Tuesday afternoon, after a great breakfast and a little pool time, Cole and I took off on a long adventure across the desert and drove to Higley, AZ where one of my best friends, Kristal lives with her awesome hubby Shaun and their TWO kids, Natalie and newborn baby boy, Landon! We had SUCH a wonderful time visiting and talking, catching up, playing with the kids, and I had a great time bonding and cuddling with little Landon. On Tuesday night, Kristal made a wonderful spaghetti dinner (her first homemade dinner since Landon was born) and we just hung out. On Wednesday, (minus Shaun cuz he had to work) headed over to the Phoenix Zoo with the kids in tow. We had such a great time looking at all the animals and feeding some ducks. Awesome zoo...if you have the chance to check it out...definitely do. We then met Shaun at Texas Roadhouse for some GOOD steaks and had a nice time chatting. Thursday morning was just hang time and it was so nice to just get to talk and let the kids play together! Thank you, Shaun and Kristal for a WONDERFUL time and for hosting Cole and I...we had a BLAST!!!!! We love you guys SO much and are so thankful for your friendship and love!!! :) Here are a few pics from Shaun & Kristal's...

Kristal and her sweet double stroller and the 2 kiddies...

Uncle Shaun and Cole hanging out reading Cole's fav book for that week...Marvel Heroes!

Cole and Natalie checking out the turtles and ducks... 5 turtle bumps on a log... A gorgeous lioness posing on her rock...her man was behind the rock...

The carousel ride on the way out of the zoo...so fun!

Sweet, little Landon chillin' in his swing...

A beautiful, Arizona sunset from Shaun & Kristal's housing tract...
Cole and I made the long journey back to CA on Thursday afternoon and had a great time singing songs and messing around the whole drive back to Indio. On Friday, we (Uncle Tedd, my mom, Cole and I) went to the Indio Living Desert Zoo & Botanical Gardens...SO RAD! They had some of the coolest animal exhibits and lots of fun things for kids to do and go in. They had the most awesome giraffe exhibit...the wild giraffes could come right up to part of the exhibit and eat leaves from your hand! And most of the walkways were either covered with trees or had misters that made it do-able in the desert heat. They also had a beautiful butterfly exhibit where you could go in and see up close and personal, about 20 varieties of butterflies. They would land on people's hands and everything. Here are some of the cool things we saw -

A buckeye butterfly...

Hmmm...this might be tasty... YEEHAW COWGIRL (well, it was really a warthog, but still fun!)...
Cole grooming the goats in the petting zoo...
He's a master at the bongos!

A gorgeous American Kestrel...

A mountain lion...look at the size of her paws... A close-up of a laughing hyena...
Two mourning doves posing in the aviary...

And here are a few more shots of the time spent at the house in Indio!

Cole practicing his surfing...

A cool fly next to some hanging flowers in the backyard...

Some beauties of nature...

"Hey mama...look, I'm naked, naked!"
On a walk through the country club grounds, I found this tree branch cut off that looked JUST like an owl's face...pretty awesome...
On the same walk...hanging flowers from a tree...I thought it was a cool shot...

Mom, Cole and I finally headed home on Saturday morning, hit up the Cabazon outlets for hours and I literally came home empty handed...that's how disciplined I am! :) But sure had a lot of fun window shopping...well, I did get a couple of shirts for Cole from the Carter's outlet. We got home just in time to hit up Rattlesnake Slim's to hear Trout & Co. play for the evening.

Most of the rest of last month was pretty standard. Mike and I had our first court date on the 16th, which went relatively smoothly. I was able to have lunch (which turned into dinner too) with my good friend, Megan, on the 19th. We were able to catch up with each other's lives and hang out for a while. I also attended a Tea Class at Clarice's cake shop on the 22nd with my mom and Judy as well as Lindsay and her mom, Bev...here are a couple of pics of what we were taught to create...

Just this last Saturday, May 3rd, my family attended the 40th anniversary for Bouquet Baptist Church, now Bouquet Canyon Church. We attended there from about 1985-1993. It was so much fun seeing old faces from the past and reminiscing with friends! They had a wonderful catered meal from Wolf Creek and a great service comemorating the 40th anniversary.

Tomorrow I'm going to have bunch of moles/skin tags removed from various parts of my body, and I'm fairly nervous. They have to "punch" the ones out from the top of my head, and I'm afraid it's going to go to far and "punch" part of my brains out...just kidding! It's a little nerve-racking so I'd love some prayer over the situation if you read this before Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. Thanks! Everything else is going pretty well, considering the circumstances. Cole has had a pretty hard week with missing Daddy and crying a lot. I've been trying to take lots of time to sit with him and try and explain, in the way a 3-year-old can understand, what's happening and what to expect from here on out. It's been a challenge and I would appreciate any prayers on this matter. It's so hard to see my little boy sad because of the situation we're in and I love him to death!!! :) Other than that, we've had some pretty fun days. This Sunday is Mother's Day and it will be so nice to spend it with my mom and the rest of my family! I will try and give another update next week and not make these so few and far between!! Thanks for your patience, thanks for your prayers and thanks for your support!!!