Scary Day!

Yea... this happened at Blake's school yesterday. I didn't get a call from the school, I saw it LIVE on the noon news! I texted Blake, asked him if he was OK, he had no clue what I was talking about! The school didn't say a word to the kids. At about 1pm, Blake texted me and said "Where are you?!?" I told him that I was at home. He told me "you need to come and pick me up, we are at the Gantzel campus" ....I drove down to pick him up, and there was chaos everywhere. Parents were upset and yelling because the school made NO phone calls to let parents know what was going on. Parents were finding out from their kids that were locked down in a gym, in the dark. There were cops everywhere, trying to keep the peace. I finally got Blake checked out after standing in 2 different lines for about an hour. Pretty scary stuff...

Here is the news report from azfamily.com -

QUEEN CREEK – One student is under arrest and half a dozen others are injured after an explosion at a Valley school.

Hazmat crews converged on J.O. Combs Middle School in Queen Creek on Monday after a student allegedly set off a home-made explosive device on campus.

It happened as students were headed to class. A total of eight students were treated by paramedics at the school. Three of them were then sent to area hospitals with chemical-type burns after police tell 3TV a 15-year old 9th-grader brought an improvised explosive device to school and set it off. Almost 100 students were around him.

Ashley, a student, tells 3TV, “It was a big boom…something went off.”
That big boom happened at the basketball courts at Combs Middle School as students were arriving for class.

Pinal County Chief Deputy Steve Henry tells 3TV, “When the device exploded first impression by school staff was, they thought it was a chemical experiment gone awry.”
Nevertheless, when they found out a 15-year-old student brought the device to school and that students had been burned by it, a criminal investigation began.

Henry also tells 3TV, “The device about five Ozof Hydroxide and a metal chemical reacted, mixed together. It could have been much worse.”
Hazmat crews from the region descended on the school as students remained in lockdown.

Elizabeth Burnell, a student, says, “They said it was on basketball court, then our security guard came in and searched the trash cans to make sure we were all okay.”
As crews entered the school to determine whether there was more than one device, parents were waiting anxiously a mile down the road where students were eventually transported to be picked up.

The parents’ concern was that the incident happened before school began yet they were not alerted until many hours later. One parent admits, “I'm ready to send her to a new school.”
Authorities are serving a search warrant on the student’s home to see if a second device was created. These are serious felony charges that student, albeit a minor, is looking at.

Meanwhile the school has been decontaminated. There will be school on Tuesday.

Lost Dutchman Ride

Yesterday, Dana and I met up with some friends and the Harleys and went on the Lost Dutchman Poker Charity Ride. It started in Mesa, went to Queen Creek, then to Florence, back to Queen Creek, back to Mesa and ended up at Rockin R in Mesa. At each stop you draw a card and they stamp your paper. At the end of the ride, the highest hand wins! It was a perfect day for a ride on the Harley. We love the group of guys and girls that we ride with.. everyone is pretty young, and the whole group gets along great. We always have a good time. We did this same ride last year and it was COLD.. this year, we all got sunburned! I had gotten sunburned on Saturday. I went and watched Mitchell race quads at E.T. motopark in Queen Creek (where he kicked butt and took 1st place in both races! Gooooo Mitchell!!) Having a sunburn on top of a sunburn is NOT fun!!

We got home from the ride and had enough time to change and get in the truck to head down to Eloy to pick the kids up from their dune trip. The kids had a blast with Uncle Brett and their cousins. Blake was bad sunburned. They swam in the canal out there in the dunes, and went on alot of rides. They had a really good time but are happy to be home. Today is their last day of Spring Break, they go back to school tomorrow.

Spring Break

Our Spring Break is off to a busy busy start! We got up early Monday morning and headed down to St. David to pay a visit to Uncle Brett in his office. Jayden was in for a BIG surprise! She thought she was there to get a cleaning done and get some Xrays. She came out of there with some BRACES on her top front 4 teeth! She so badly needed them. We were going to spend the day and then head home, but plans changed, like they always seem to do.. Blake and Jayden ended up staying with their cousins! I really do think that Blake and Taylor were separated at birth, they are so similar in everything they do. They look alike and have the same personalities. It's insane how alike they are! And of course Jayden and Leea get along great. Those 2 can play and play and never get tired of each other.

I'll be meeting up with Uncle Brett and alllllll the kids on Thursday out at the dunes. I am so excited to "do the dunes". I hope to have a ton of pictures of all the fun. Dana won't be able to go because he is working.

New Baby

I traded my mean Amazon parrot for a 8 month old African Grey parrot. Her name is Ky (pronounced like TY).. she is the sweetest little baby EVER! I am so in love with her and am spoiling her rotten. She is already starting to learn clicks and whistles. She is starting to talk, but it isn't very clear yet. It won't be long and she'll be barking like the dogs and doing all sorts of stuff to torture them!

Meet Ky!!

Easy, fun, and so so good!!

French Toast Casserole -

5 cups bread cubes
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup white sugar divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, vanilla. Pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with butter. Let stand for 10 mins. Combining remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Bake in pre-heated oven 45 to 50 mins until the top is golden brown.

Happy Birthday Blake!!

Blake turned 13 on Sunday, March 1st!! Happy birthday Blake, you are a teenager now! We love you and are proud of the young man you are becoming. Keep up the good work, keep kicking butt in school! 13 years has flown by so fast. Kids really do grow up so fast.


Blake shares his birthday with his cousin Lola, cousin Kellyn, and his Grandpa Martin!!