Yearly family picnic

Today was our annual family picnic... my moms side of the family. We had it this year on the East side of town at Scottsdale Ranch Park. It was a very nice park and everyone had a great time.... the weather held out for us and the wind died down from Saturday luckily.. it was a beautiful day. We had a kickball game and we had several under the age of 5 so we would let them all kick and then the last one always got a home run...they did this about 6 times.. I am sure they all slept the drive home. There was probably about 70 people there but we didn't get a group picture this year :{

Taylor * Tori

Alyssa * Taylor

Grandma * Tori

Aunt Lindel * Amy * Mom

Amber * Taylor

Tori * Brittney * Taylor * Tatum * Allysa * Lauren * Amber * Taylor * Riley

Spring Break

Well this school year has flown by... and so has Spring Break :( It was a very busy one at that. The week start off by Tatums meet and then ended with softball. But before it all started I hurt my back and have been in pain all week. I can't stand or sit in one position for very long so sitting through all these games and meets was very difficult for me to say the least. But I wouldn't miss any of them for the world :) Taylor was pulled up to play varsity for a tournament and got to play quite a bit as Dani Bonnet, the junior, got hurt so Taylor and Kirsten, the 2 freshmen girls got to pitch the last four games. They both did a great job!!
Tori Jo had opening ceremonies on Saturday and her first two games... same time as Taylor played her last game :/ I wish I could be cloned so I could watch everything that goes on all at once... I hate missing any of their games. Tori pitched her first game as a minor player... she had to move back 3 feet and is now playing with the regular size ball. She did GREAT! I guess we will have two pitchers in the family :)) Well spring time always means a busy time and this week has proven that.
Tori and her team at Opening ceremonies


We did get together with our great friends the Lees on Tuesday before all the softball started. They are always fun to have over. The girls all played, swam, did the water slide, played ping pong and had a kickball game while I sat and talked with Christy... thats about all I could do with my back but anyone that knows Christy we can both talk for hours and hours... L0L :} They brought over their puppy Brody... he's a black lab and omg what a cutie. We kept calling him Mini Me because he would just follow Shadow all over and he looks just like shadow did at that age. Im so mad I didn't get any pictures but I will next time.

To end Spring Break, Tad has5 tickets for the Suns Game for tonights game.... I gave my ticket up to Sydney. I know they will all have a great time. Its a 8:00 start time so they won't be happy campers in the morning for their first day back to school :\\

Shamrock Meet

Tatum had a meet this morning at Peoria High School. She did much better at this meet than the last couple. She is so determined to get better scores.. I know she will eventually be able to it all without struggling whatsoever :/

Beam Routine

Score

Floor routine

The team got First Place

Happy Birthday Taylor ~

My baby girl is 15 today OMG!!!! Where has the time gone. She slept in today as we had to be in Queen Creek at 7:30 for Tatums meet. When we got home we took her to dinner of her choice... Texas Roadhouse... and then it was bed time. What a birthday celebration. Well she got what she wanted a Ipod Touch so she was very happy with that... as far as partys she didn't even ask for one. I guess she is growing up :/

Taylor and Sydney at Texas Roadhouse


Happy Birthday Taylor Ann... We love you very much!!!

Tad and I go to Iowa

Tad and I left for a week to visit his mom in Iowa for her birthday! We had a great visit with her. While we were there she wanted us to help clean out her basement... she has so many totes filled with Great decorations for every season. I thought I had a lot of Christmas totes... OMG there was a TON!!! And then there were totes for Easter and Spring, Summer and Fourth of July, and Fall. We bought some shelves and got everything in order so she could find what she needed. We also helped her pull out her refrigerator, stove and clean out the pantry... We actually had a nice time doing all of this for her... lots of conversation in between :)) We went to Downtown deli for lunch and then walked the shops one day and met her friend Cindi. We didn't see Bob, Tracy and Payton very much, they were all busy with school and work.

There was so much snow.. I have never seen that much at one time. Just from plowing her drive the pile was higher than the top of her garage. For only being 20 degrees it never really felt that cold, but then again we were never out for a long period of time. On friday it snowed all day and the fresh snow on the trees and ground was so beautiful! We went for a drive and I got some great pictures. We all had to pile out of the car for some of us.

Saturday night before we left we all went out to dinner for Karens birthday to celebrate. We went to a place called Fuji (its like Ahso here in Az). The put on a great show and the food was awesome.

Mr. Snoopers and Buddy

Karen with her puppies

Tad and I went on a walk

Picture of some random house but wanted a picture of the long icicles

Patio bench and chair buried in snow

After the fresh snow

Tad & I

Tad * Karen * Bobby

Payton * Tami * Tad * Karen

Payton * Tad * Karen

Payton * Karen

Tad * Mr. Snoopers * Karen

Tami * Mr. Snoopers * Karen

Neal and I at Fuji

Tad * Payton * Bobby

Tracy and Payton

Karen with her birthday ice cream

Payton * Tad * Bobby * Karen * Tracy * Tami * Neal

Tatums first meet of the season

Tatum had her first meet of the season and it was at the University of Phoenix Stadium. She moved up to level 5 and had to learn all new routines but I think she did very well. She was a bit disappointed in some of her scores but is ready for the next meet so she can improve and get better/higher ratings. We are very proud of you Tatum and excited for your next meet in a month!!!

Beam routine

Dismount :)

In the air on bars

Run and flip on vault

Getting her overall ribbon

Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance :-))

Well its that time of year again for Tad and the girls to attend the annual Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance at the girls school. The tradition started 9 years ago when it was just Taylor and Tad... this year no Taylor since she is now in high school. The evening always begins with pictures in front of the rock at the Bauers house, then dinner, dance and ice cream at DQ. They always have a good time.

Tad and the girls

Tatum * Carli * Codi * Tori

Bauer and Nowlin group

This group picture will get smaller each year as Carli goes to high school next year.

Tatums 13th Birthday

Wow another teenager... where the heck does the time go. I cannot believe she is 13 already.... my babies are not babies anymore. I started this tradition when the girls turn 13 they can pick anywhere they want to go for their birthday and her and I would go. A couple years ago Taylor picked Magic Mountain in California and this year Tatum wanted to go back to Disneyland. She isn't a big fast roller coaster person and Disney fits her perfectly. I pulled her from school for three days... we left on Wednesday morning and arrived in California at 9:00 am and I had called ahead for the supershuttle to pick us up.. it was waiting to take us to our hotel. Disneyland didn't open until 10:00 so we go there shortly after and spent the whole day enjoying the rides, food and just each other. Tatum is such a sweet girl and got emotional a few times because she wanted her sisters there with her... Wow I thought... the way she fights with her sisters at times you would think the break and being away would be great but she wanted them there. That just melted my heart knowing even though they have their fights (as sisters do) she loves being with them :)) Disneyland closes at 8:00 so we were back at the hotel early and we were both tired from the early morning so we were in bed quite and asleep before 9:30. We got up and had a great breakfast then another great day at the park all day. Tatum and I had such a great time. It was not busy at all... I think the longest line was over at California Adventure for the Toy Story Mania which was 20 minutes. We mostly just walked up and got on the ride... IT WAS GREAT!!!! Alot different from when we were there in December with 60 minutes plus lines :-((
















Tatum I had a great time with you for your 13th Birthday... Your very special to me and I love you so much.