EVIT - Completion Ceremony

Mitchell has attended the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) for this last year participating in their Precision Manufacturing program. Mitchell has thoroughly enjoyed the hands on program and would like to pursue a career in that field. Tonight was the Completion Ceremony for all seniors that completed their EVIT program. The special event was held at the Mesa Center for the Arts. Each student involved in the ceremony wore the cap and gown of their home school. Mitchell looks very handsome in his orange cap and gown. He is VERY excited to have done so well in his program.

This is Mitchell with his teacher Mr. Eugene Ward. These two got a long pretty well in the precision manufacturing course.

Mitchell & I. I am very proud of Mitchell's successes this year. He is a fine young man with many talents and ambitions. Congratulations Mitchell!

This is a video clip of Mitchell going across stage as they read his name. AZ State Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal, was the keynote speaker for the evening.

Scott & Jennifer's Wedding!

Scott & Jennifer had their wedding in Bullhead, Arizona, at the Amore Wedding Chapel on Saturday, May 21st. The groom & the best man: Scott & Keith.

The Sweeney Family: Scott, Grandma, Keith, & Mom.

The ceremony begins. Jennifer & Scott were all smiles and giggles.

Ahhhh....the love birds!

The wedding party. Mom was the Matron of Honor.

Scott loves his big sister :) And Mom loves to get hugs!

Here comes Mr. & Mrs. Scott Sweeney!

Rose petals were thrown at the newly married couple!

The reception & party was held at Scott & Jennifer's home in Kingman. Here is the wedding party again.

Mom, Scott, Grandma, Keith and me.

The food was yummy. We had pizza, subs, and sodas.

All of the little kids had a blast playing with the dog toys in the backyard. Madison was the ring leader of this group. Payten, Heidi, & Robbie followed her everywhere. When Camber arrived, she joined the group.

Joshua & Justin climb on the BIG dog bridge.

The funniest part of the night was the bouquet toss. Jennifer tossed it the first time but it didn't go very far and Colby picked it up. The second time she tossed it, she gave it a big throw and it went over the fence into the tumble weeds. Once it was retrieved she attempted to toss it again but the flowers fell out of the plastic holder while she was tossing it. The flowers fell in front of her. Finally, she picked the flowers up along with the plastic holder and threw it like a football to the single ladies. It landed near Aunt Brenda and she gathered the prize. Great memories!

Congratulations Jennifer & Scott. We are so happy for the two of you!

Prom

Saturday, May 7th is Corona del Sol High School's Senior Prom. Mitchell got all dressed up for the event. Mitchell looks very handsome in his tuxedo.

His date, Jacqueline, was an expert at pinning on the corsage. Mitchell and Jacqueline are just friends. Both of them have other "love" interests that they weren't able to be with for prom so they went together.

Easter 2011

Our Easter party was held Saturday, April 23rd. The weather was perfect for an outdoor egg hunt. We selected this quiet park within our neighborhood for the hunt. There was a large field, lots of shrubs along the edges and several rocky areas to hide eggs in plain site.

Abram (Grant's friend), Grant, Austin, Bradley, Jack, Madi and Robbie are ready to start the egg hunt.

Julie, Brent, Jordan, Brandon and Grandma waited and watched from the shade. Eventually, almost all of them went and found eggs and ate their contents.

The beginning of our egg hunt.

Bradley found the HUGE egg. There was over 200 eggs hidden in the field. Everyone found lots of eggs filled with treats.

Shooting in the Desert

On Saturday, April 16th, Brent, Grant and I headed out toward Four Peaks to do some target practice. We traveled north on Highway 260 until we reached an area near Sycamore Creek. As we headed down the road toward Sycamore Creek, several people had parked their vehicles on the side of the road and were taking off on dirt bikes. There are lots of desert trails to ride on in this area. Further down the road are places for target practice and more dirt bike riding. We turned off the dry, dirt road at this site. It was an extremely littered area. Debris from many people covered the ground; all of it riddled with holes. I was shocked that people would come to the beautiful desert and not clean up after themselves. It would take an army of people and many, many large garbage bags to clean up this one site. Pretty sad.

Grant received a BB gun for his birthday. This was the first time he was able to take the gun out and shoot it. Brent brought his old BB gun and his 22.

Brent and Grant got along very well on this trip. They talked about what they were shooting, if their sites were working, had contests on who could hit specific targets the quickest, and which gun fired better. It was great to watch them getting along. I don't know what it is about guns and men, but they seem to go together very well. These two could have stayed out here in the desert all day if it wasn't so hot.

Grant has great aim with a gun. He hits his target 90% of the time on the first shot. Not bad for a kid who hasn't had much shooting practice. He really enjoys this activity. Although it was hot and boring for me, we will have to go and do this again :)

On a crazy side note, a little further down the road was a group of people shooting at stuff. We listened to their high powered automatic guns. A few times they set off bombs. My whole body vibrated when they did that. Who would have thought that it was legal to set off bombs in the desert?

Grant's Birthday - Round 3

On Grant's actual birthday, March 21st, we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yummy! Grant and Mitchell didn't want their picture taken while we waited for our feast to arrive.

Brent and I didn't mind being photographed. :)

Grant ordered steak and a double order of cheesy bacon french fries. He LOVED the cheesy fries!

At the end of the evening the Texas Roadhouse staff made Grant sit on a saddle, swing a napkin around in the air, and listen to them give him a big Yee Haw!

Happy 14th Birthday Grant! We all love you!

Grant's Birthday Round 2

We celebrated Grant's 14th birthday on Friday, March 18th. Since it was spring break, only his buddy, Abram, was able to attend. Grant and Abram went to Fiddlesticks, an amusement park. They drove go-carts, played miniature golf, rode in bumper boats and rode on other equipment. It was difficult to get the two of them out of there are the end of the evening. After a dinner of pizza, Grant was anxious to open his presents. Actually, Mitchell was extremely curious to find out what Grant received. He even postponed going out with friends so he wouldn't miss out.

The first gift opened was a BB Gun from Brent & I. Grant is bummed that it is illegal to shoot them within the city limits but he is excited that he gets to go to the desert and fire it off later.

The next gift was a PSP game from Abram. Grant seems to really enjoy all of the military games that are available. Now he can curl up in his bed with his PSP and kill bad guys and zombies. What a way to wind down for a night!

Grant received a gift card to McDonald's from Grandma & Gramps. He LOVES McDonald's! He also received something special from Great-Grandma Sweeney. The last gift he opened was night vision goggles. He has been asking for these for a while. They work pretty good too. Now he won't need a flashlight to sneak around the house at midnight, he can use the goggles!

This is Grant's Jello Cake with the #14 on it. I know it's not nearly as cool as his purple Elmo cake Aunt Sarah made but it's very yummy!

I'm very worried about Grant's lung capacity. He had a difficult time blowing out the candles on his own. Mitchell ended up helping him out. (They weren't trick candles!) :)

The birthday evening ended with Grant and Abram playing video games until 1 in the morning and then watching a movie until they fell asleep.

The final round in Grant's birthday party extravaganza will be on his birthday, Monday night, when we go out to dinner as a family. Grant hasn't decided where we will be going yet.