FLOWERS!!!!!!!!

I love having them to cut and bring into the house.

You shaved your what ????

We shaved our cat Zazoo.

He is a very long haired cat who sheds like crazy in the summer. Last year I used my hair clippers on him and they almost overheated, so this year I decided to take him in to a do-it-yourself pet grooming place. I wasn't too sure how he would react. We put a harness and leash on him and put him in a crate for the drive. He was very nervous with lots of meowing. Once we got there and put him up on the grooming table he was fine. To my surprise he did not even react to the two HUGE dogs that were being bathed near us. The lady who worked at the grooming place said she had never had anyone shave their cat before. Zazoo was a pro. He even let Haley hold him up so I could shave his belly. We got rid of a ton of cat fur, and he is so much softer now. We left him a little lion tale for fun. The best part was giving him a bath in the big tub after the haircut. At first he was not too happy about it, but then he got used to the water and did great.

When life gives you zucchini...

You have to make zucchini bread!! Actually I made muffins.

I had fun photographing some stuff from our garden.
Yummy! There is nothing like produce eaten right after it's picked.
We have planted a garden just about everywhere we have lived. Some years are better than others. In Pennsylvania it was awesome because we had so much garden space and we did not have to worry about watering issues. There was no need for irrigation of any kind. The rain took care of it. Everything grew there, we just had to keep the deer and other various critters out. When we lived in Arizona we couldn't find Haley one day. She was about 2 1/2. Finally I went outside and I found her sitting in the garden eating snap peas that she was picking.

We are not very good gardeners, but we have fun trying.

Camping trip to Bass Lake and Yosemite

Emily getting her tent set up all by herself.
Haley and Hannah loved chopping wood for the fire.
Once again, Emily showing us her survival skills. She got a great fire going.
Can we say S'Mores!!!!!
Thanks for sharing Hannah!!
Grandpa and Grandma Judd at Bass Lake.
Ben was a very happy boy when he saw all the rocks.
He could spend hours throwing them into the water.

Russ caught a fish with his first cast. The fish were really biting. He caught a few more later on.
Hannah made friends with the ducks. They loved her pancakes!
Haley caught this fish all by herself.
Yosemite Falls. It is hard to tell in the picture, but we were getting really wet. There was a lot of mist blowing.

This was our favorite part of Yosemite. We hiked to two falls and had so much fun climbing on fallen trees over the water. We all found walking sticks. Russ had an especially difficult time getting his, but he was determined. He ended up in a big mud puddle with a few scrapes and cuts, but he found a great stick that he is now in the process of carving into a masterpiece.

Having some "optical illusion" fun with the falls.

The scenery was amazing!
Grandpa and Ben having some fun.
There's more than one way to climb a tree...
Look at the roots of this fallen tree. Cool!!

Benjamin-Stockdale Class of 2010

Ben wanted to go to Mexicali for dinner before graduation. We went to the one downtown. The area around it has really been spruced up, so we took a few pictures there.

Gotta love it!!!
We are so proud of Ben.
Here is Mr. Hendrix, the principal, presenting Ben with his certificate of completion.
Ben's teacher, Miss Dickerson, and his friends, Karen, Chris, Mariah and Brittany.

Ben's response when asked if he was happy to be graduating. I would say that means YES!!! Ben's friend Rudy proudly told everyone at Special Olympics last week that Ben will now be attending the "University of A.B.L.E."