Finally!

The blog is back up and running thanks to this little beauty!





So much has gone on in the last almost 2 years and it has been kept secret from the world because my laptop died....and I'm too stubborn to learn how to use the old desk top kids computer or Andy's laptop.

The kids have each grown a mile. Lace is now 8 years old and in 2nd grade. She is still a Brownie Girl Scout and we are up to our eyeballs in cookies during this time of year.

She also looks EXACTLY like our niece Bethany. It kind of freaks us out how very much alike they look. Somethings never change though....she still HATES cleaning her room and still either becomes very tired or very sick when it comes time to clean. It used to be cute, but now it just gets old and gets her grounded.

KHAYLE has officially become a teenager! Yes, that's right, she is 13 now. I really can't believe that Tony and I are old enough to have 2 teenagers in the house. I was 13 when I met Tony...yikes!

With each day that passes, Khayle grows even more beautiful than we ever imagined she could be. As a teenager she is a little more sassy than we hoped for...but she is still for the most part that peace maker middle child. Yes, she still suffers from Middle Child Syndrome, but we're really hoping she'll just embrace it soon....as it's never going to change. If she were to try she'd be a straight A student, but that takes more effort than she's willing to put forth...so she stays safe in the middle of the road. She excels in art and is still more creative than I could ever dream of being.

ANDY is 2 weeks away from being 16!! Holy crap! How can this be????


He's only hit the garage and murdered the passenger side mirror once. He doesn't ask to drive a whole lot which makes me not have to say no very often. We have a rule where he has to be passing all his classes to drive...not as great as an incentive as I hoped it would be. Let there be no doubt, he is completely capable of fantastic grades but chooses to keep that a secret from his teachers. Maybe it'll kick in his last 2 years of school...hey, I can hope. He's decided that the Marine Corps is what he's going to do after high school. I am so proud of him, yet so worried about him going far away from his family...well away from me anyways. He's at least promised at this point to stay on the west coast so we can come visit on some weekends.

TONY has started the long process of going back to school. A 19 year break was all he needed.

I am so proud of him for finally getting on this track and bettering himself and his career. He's doing fabulously in both of his classes and so far has A's in them. However, his math homework makes him cuss...a lot. He's been a very busy man at work too. He made the SRT team, which is Gila River's version of a SWAT team. I'm so glad he did because it had become an obsession. He's also on the Honor Guard team. That was because they ask him every time they need an Honor Guard so he figured he'd just be on the team so they don't have to ask. I think they pick him because he's so pretty :) not that his military experience has anything to do with it.

ME...I am going back to school starting the 14th.

OH MY...if I think Tony's cuss level went up, I can only imagine what's gonna happen to mine. I figure since I am home all day and the kids are in school and don't need me as much as they used to, I can better myself as well. My classes will all be online so that I can always stay available to do whatever the kiddos need whenever they need it. It will definitely be a new experience.

So that pretty much catches us up on the last 2 years. I am so excited to have a new computer and be back up in the blogging world.

Goodbye School....Hello Summer!!!!

Good news: everyone passed their grade and they are each moving up to the next one! Woo Hoo!

Laycee will be fearless 1st grader in August! She is already ready to go back to school, she really misses her bestest friend ever, Gracie West.

We couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Miss Perkins was so cute and such a sweetheart. Lace enjoyed every moment spent in Room 1.

YAY LACE!! You're such a little Miss SmartyPants!! We are so proud of our baby girl who is now our big 1st grader!!

Khayle has officially been promoted! She's out of 6th grade and is now a Sensitive 7th grader....(hopefully that's just hormonal, and soon will pass!)

She did an awesome job this year! She worked her little tail right off! She mananged to get straight A's the whole last semester! Who knew that bribing them with $5 an A was going to work? Maybe it was the threat that they would have to pay me $5 if they got an F!

Probably the highlight of this year was winning a contest and having her piece of art displayed at the Phoenix Art Museum!!


It was a dream come true! Khayle's dream was to have her art on display in a real museum, and she did...how lucky can she be? Her dream has come true at 11, what dream will she have by the time she is 21?

The 6th grade also put on a World's Fair Day. It was a ton of fun! Khayle has an obsession with Canada, so that was the country she reported on. I did help her, but sadly, I did not retain anything about the country. She did a fabulous job, as always, and got an A+ on her report and presentation! We had a great time going to her class and signing our names in the kids' passports as we went around and learned about they countries. I did learn that in Switzerland, the cows that give the better milk wear bigger cow bells! I also learned that if your dad is LDS and went on a mission outside of the USA, you had a bigger advantage...the more crap you had on display for your country, the higher the grade...we tried to bring in a Canadian, but teacher said no...

I took Khayle to get her fingers and toes painted for her big day! She was a tad nervous to be wearing shoes with such a high heel, but she looked beautiful!

There she is getting her big hug from Mrs. Barcia. She also got her certificates while she was up there!

She was very excited to get this Silver award. Talk about a SmartyPants!! Way to go, K! You totally rocked this school year!

Khayle had a nice relationship with Mrs. Hibbard the principal. I honestly think that Mrs. Hibbard is praising God that another Cardinale kid is gone from Hermosa Vista, and that there is only one left!

Khayle has made some very sweet friends...Rachel is in the blue, Jordan is in the tie, and Heather is in the red. We love that she has made such great friends that will move on over to Stapley with her.
And finally, Mrs. Barcia...we loved her so much! She has been the best teacher ever! I begged her to stay long enough to get Lace through 6th grade. She said she would...but we'll see....if she hears about Laycee's reputation, she'll retire for sure!

Almost forgot, Mr. Ashcraft! He was Andy's LD teacher, and the main reason Andy made it to Junior High in the first place. We love him, and he was always so very sweet to K. I think he took pity on her because he knows that she has to live with Andy....

GOODBYE HERMOSA VISTA!! She's outta there!

Grandpa had a little temper tantrum before graduation, so he ended up not going. But K was very excited to show him all her awards!

She also got some cool gifts...but I guess I only got a picture of this one!

K, you are so amazing and you worked so hard this year! It really paid off! You should be so proud of yourself! Keep up the hard work, and get ready to rock junior high! We love you!

I guess at the end of 8th grade, it's really no big deal...because we did not take a picture of Andy...poor baby! He did a great job, and managed to make money on his report cards...and didn't have to pay me. Thank goodness for PE, that's an A for sure! He did a great job, once he buckled down and applied himself. He's getting ready for football, and working his tail off on the field! He's moved up, and now he is a nifty 9th grader....

Andy, we totally cannot believe that you are in 9th grade...you are almost grown! WOW! We couldn't be more proud of our baby boy if we tried! We love you so much and can't wait to see the life God has planned for you!

Sadly, I now have only one kid in elementary school, and even though I have 2 at Stapley, Khayle is in junior high, but Andy will now start getting high school credit for his classes...which makes him a freshman....holy crap!

Quick Overview

Let me just remind you that I do know that I suck at blogging!

I became a great aunt in November. My niece Bethany had Baby Aubrey Shae, and I always screw up and call her Audrey. . . just another thing I suck at! Anyways, I don't get to see her often, but this was the last time I did, and these are my two favorite pictures!

I love the way that my brother, who is now Grandpa GaryLee, and Little Missy are looking at each other. It's just too sweet!

Does she not have the roundest little head ever? And those big round eyes! And even her little mouth is round! She is perfect!

Spring Break happened in March. We wanted to go to Kartchner Caverns, but we didn't buy our tickets early enough. We went to Colossal Cave and Tombstone instead.

Here's my most vivid memory of the whole trip: using the toilet! My God, I wanted to die! I almost puked, was actually dry heaving! When ya got to pee, ya got to pee though! It was a "green" toilet. You know, one of those kinds that collects all the crap and doesn't flush? I still have flashbacks! My favorite sayings (that I could hear between gagging) were: "There's something green way down there" and "Well there was something green AND some red in mine!" I truly was thinking that if God could strike me dead, it would have been OK. I know that Hell is going to be full of these "green" toilets! It was also really great when Lace told Shell about the colors in her toilet ever so loudly in the museum! I am not a nature person, and to quote my favorite detective Monk, "Nature is bad!"

(Map of the Cave)

(It's always 70 degrees in the cave, all year round. But it's humid, so thank God for deodorant!)

(People have destroyed a lot of the beauty of the cave. . . but it was still incredibly magnificent! God must have had a great time making this!)

(I think they call this the living room. I guess the people who put the stairs in the cave used to sit here when they had lunch.)

Boothill was the first stop in Tombstone. It was OK. I took a lot of pictures of the graves, because I'm morbid like that, but I will not post them all.

(Really? By mistake? At least they owned up to it.)

(I stalked this little boy through the graveyard...he was adorable!)

(I took several pictures of him trying to get a good one...his parents were probably very nervous!)

(You just don't see many little boys dressed up like this...Andy would've loved this outfit when he was little, plus I have a soft spot for little blonde cowboys...it's just so American!)

The last stop of the day was the Tombstone we all think of...the OK Corral and such. It probably is quite amazing. They are still old-fashioned, and everything closed at 5. So, we were very rushed, since we didn't arrive until about 4ish.

(One of the most exciting pictures. . .who knew balls were so talented?)

The kids loved the noose...I will admit, I have thought of stringing them up over the years, but never imagined they'd be so excited about it!

(Andy likes to close his eyes while he hangs himself.)

( K, however, likes to have her eyes open and tongue out when hanging herself and posing for the picture!)

(Layceebug wasn't tall enough to hang herself, and I think that K looks WAY too happy to help her out!)

PS: TAKE NOTE OF LACE'S HAIR BOWS. . .I MADE THEM!! AWESOME!

Next we saw the jail. Jail hasn't made a lot of changes over the years, they still like using the bar technique today!

(Shell in jail...kinda has a ring to it, huh?)

(Six in jail, now it just sounds like a Dr. Suess book.)

After getting out of jail, we went to check out the petting zoo. Again, nature is really not my thing, but the animal poo smell was still better than the 'green' bathroom! They gave all the animals funny little names, and that was really the best part.

This is Calamity Jane, a pissed off, one eyed, largest chicken in the world. I don't know if the largest or chicken part are true, but the pissed off and one eyed part are! I don't really like animals, so I didn't bother to take pictures of the others.

We had to walk quickly to get in to the OK Corral before it closed.

I have never been so shocked or disappointed in my life. The gunfight did NOT even happen in the Corral, but outside in a lot beside it! AND...the biggest shock of all? Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the others were the BAD guys! Holy crap! I always thought that they were the good guys.

I had to try very hard to convince my kids that this man worked there as Wyatt Earp. They were worried that maybe he just dressed up to come visit. Do you think that the scowl present on Khayle's face is ever going to go away? I still see it several times a day!

And finally, the second best picture of the day:

Sometimes, there are just no words!