My Hometown

We've spent the last two weekends in my hometown, Ajo. When I tell people I come from a small town they usually ask "which one?" which is quickly followed by "where's that" or "on the way to Mexico?" Ajo is a  little gem, tucked in the Sonoran desert, that a lot of Arizonans just don't know about. I can give you an exhaustive history of Ajo and how it came to be but unless you're a history buff you probably don't want to read all of that, so I'm going to post pictures and tell you why I love it.

1. Because it's home. My parents home is just so comfortable and when we're there we spend a lot of time outside.

2. The People. Awesome people. 

3. It's gorgeous. Ajo has a lot of houses that need work and unfortunately that is what a lot of people see when they pass through, but Ajo really is quite beautiful.

Not to mention the gorgeous churches that surround a beautiful plaza. I will have to post pictures of that at another time...perhaps when we go down for the Ajo Reunion.

4. When we are in Ajo we get to be a part of stuff like this:

5. This awesome open pit mine. 

My hometown has a special place in my heart and its great to see how much Cassandra and Mr. A have fallen in love with it too.  People from Ajo have a lot of pride in our small little town and that is one of the other things I love about this place. 

My Mom & Pop

Last weekend we celebrated my Mom & Dad's 40th anniversary! My parents little family of 4 has grown and now we have 16 people in our immediate family! My siblings and I wanted to throw a little party for them, so we got invitations out and started making plans. The weather in AZ has been gorgeous, borderline hot for this early in the year, so we were planning to spend the day in the warm sun playing horseshoes and grilling. The day of the party was the ONE day that was super windy, overcast and rainy. Seriously, the one day in weeks that was not the perfect warm Spring day. The party was planned to be outside. So, we had to make a few adjustments and move some stuff around to make it work. I was a little stressed as each of my siblings text asking what the backup plan was, and I talking about moving the party inside when my mom said "It will be perfect, no matter the weather or where we have the party, it will be perfect. This is actually a great example of marriage, you plan for a warm Spring days and sometimes you get wind and rain, but that doesn't mean it's not great. The party will be perfect!"  Dang, mom...what a smart lady!  Of course we all want and expect warm sunny days, but the reality is that there are windy rainy days where you just have to tweak the plans a little.  The party was not what we thought it was going to be when we were going through the planning stages, however it was a great party! I've been thinking about all my parents went through as a
couple and as parents and I have nothing but love and respect for them and their 40 years of marriage.

We have such a great big extended family and were fortunate enough to grow up close to both of our grandmas. Family is so important to me and Cass and something we would like to pass on to Mr. A. who already loves spending time with his grandparents (both sets) and cousins. I hope that he learns to be hard working and down to earth from his grandpas and soaks up all of the wisdom (and some of the wittiness) he can from his grandmas. 

Mr. A & The Terrific 2's

2014 has been such an active year for us so far! We've gone to Monster Jam, to California, to my hometown a couple of times and most importantly...we have a very active and opinionated 2 year old. Mr. A has always been an incredibly well behaved little guy and we kept wondering why the 2's are so "terrible". Well, lets just say we've gotten a taste of it. Don't get me wrong, I still think he is amazing and he's so well behaved most of the time. In fact I feel bad even writing this because it feels like I'm complaining, but honestly, I'm just being real. Our little boy is so smart that he already knows how to push our buttons and then how to turn right around, change his tone of voice and sweet talk us! It's amazing! 

For some unknown reason, I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself  when it comes to parenting. Here are three things I've learned in the past few weeks

1.) Kids test their parents patience all the time. Every single one. I text a friend of mine and said my little guy was just driving me nuts one day and a few days later received a similar text from her. All of our kids push our buttons and test our patience. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

2.) Even the perfect parents aren't perfect. My brother pointed out to me that every child grows up and blames their parents for something they did wrong, (pessimist, I know). I don't think my brother was trying to instill wisdom when he said this, but it made me think...I bet every person can name something they think they're parent did wrong. Maybe I'm backwards, but this kinda made me feel better; even perfect parents aren't perfect. 

3.) He's just a kid. My best friend, wise woman that she is, reminded me he is just a toddler. He's 2 and he's a wonderful kid. So what if he throws a fit every now and then or if he talks back, at the end of the day, he is growing, learning and pushing the limit and I should be happy that he is doing all of those things because that means he's right where he should be.

I haven't really written much about parenting in the past, but this past weekend I realized how much pressure I put on myself...and if I'm not careful, I could easily transfer that pressure to our little boy. I don't want to do that, so I'm trying to give me and him a little more credit and not been such a worrier. It's been almost a year that this little blessing has been in our lives and I cannot even begin to express what he has done to our home, hearts and families. He is amazing and I am beyond thankful him!!