Seen any good movies lately?

Okay, I gotta get that sad post off the top of this page. By the way, the 14-yr-old girl from Nevada is apparently still hanging in there... the report we got that she had died was apparently incorrect. So as far as I know at this point she is still alive, though possibly still unconscious, I don't know what her condition is. Anyway, enough about that.

So Braden and I used those two free movie tickets from Safeway yesterday, at Century Park Place in Tucson. We got in free to see "Get Smart," then screen-hopped to "Kung-Fu Panda." Both very good movies. "Get Smart" was mildly disappointing for me, but only because I used to love the TV show years ago, and although Steve Carell is a VERY funny guy, he just wasn't quite the arrogant numbskull that Don Adams was on TV. However, it's a very funny movie and I even liked Anne Hathaway (not normally one of my favorites) in this one -- she was a better "99" than TV's Barbara Feldon, IMO.

Kung-Fu Panda is cute. Jack Black is his usual goofy self playing "Po," the "big fat panda," but I loved Dustin Hoffman as the little master guy. All the kids loved that movie too -- I took them all to see it last Monday.

We still have yet to see the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and we're looking forward to catching a matinee for that one sometime soon. We've recently watched all three of the previous "Indy" movies so we're all caught up except for the last one.

Thanks for reading.

Count your blessings.

On Tuesday of this week, a 15-yr-old girl named Carina, from St. David, was killed in a car accident. She was with an 18-yr-old boy (driving) from Mescal and a 14-yr-old girl from Nevada. It happened on the freeway at about 3:00am. Alcohol was allegedly involved. None of them were wearing seatbelts. Both girls were thrown from the truck as it rolled repeatedly, and Carina died at the scene. The other girl was in an induced coma until she passed away today or yesterday. The driver sustained a leg injury but will be fine... physically.

Carina isn't someone we knew well, but we did know her and our whole family is shocked and saddened by this tragedy. But I feel the saddest for that poor boy -- his entire world was turned upside down in just a few seconds, right along with the pickup he was driving. He is facing criminal charges, not to mention the knowledge that he killed two young girls. Maybe he was driving under the influence, maybe he was speeding, maybe his judgment was impaired... but even so, nobody deserves to go through what he must be experiencing. My heart hurts for him and for his family... as well as the families of the girls.

I don't mean to bring anybody down--I mention this only because things have been put into perspective for me. I know I get distracted and forget my blessings -- I sometimes can't see past the messy house and the bickering -- but my children are here, and they're whole, and they're healthy, and they're smart, and they make (mostly) good choices. I am SO blessed. And so are you. Love your children and/or grandchildren, your friends, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your cousins, all your loved ones. Enjoy every minute... and lighten up on the small things. You never know how much time you have.

Thanks for reading.

Here we go

Okay... so we're bloggin'. Summer is as good a time as any to begin, I guess!

I can start by posting Disneyland photos... as most of you know, we recently spent 3 days in the Magic Kingdom and had a really great time. We took Cheyenne's best friend Daleen with us -- she had never even been out of Arizona before, let alone Disneyland. She had a blast, of course, just like the rest of us.

We took over a hundred pictures .... We look at them over and over again -- the experience was over WAY too soon, but we're still enjoying the memories. Here's some of them.



Since we've been home, we have spent some time at the pool in Benson, continued working on our garden, and basically sat around the house, trying to stay cool. We've had 100+ temps here in St. David (I feel sooooo sorry for you poor souls in Tucson and Phoenix! Whew!!).

That's enough for now... thanks for reading.