Labor Day weekend...

Our Labor Day weekend has officially kicked off today...both sets of married kids came over for dinner and then we went over to a neighbors house and played putt putt on their green...the yard/pool is ready for the BBQ tomorrow with family and friends... The boys are golfing early... Susie and I are playing tennis in the morning... Becky and Kristen are working out together.. the festivities begin around 2.. we will be celebrating Becky's 26th birthday.. I know what you are thinking.. I look WAY to YOUNG to have a 26 year old... but tis true.. and Grandma Shipley will be 79.

Bear Down Arizona!!!

What began as a nice evening turned into us running for cover!!!
We decided to go and cheer for the Wildcats tonight vs. Idaho... pretty confident of an obvious win.. but then the rain started and the game was delayed for an hour... we had to evacuate the stadium because of lightening...lots of crowds.. very humid.. I saw Gary and Matt Lundstrom, Sabrina Jones and her girls, Wes Radcliff and his kids, Zack Pfau, and Monet Golding and also met some nice people while waiting.. it was an adventure for sure! :)
Finally, the game was on.. we ventured back to our seats.. still raining.. I decided after 3 touchdowns within 12 min., it was time to GO HOME!
We did have a fun time tho... Larry and I are getting the hang of this EMPTY NESTERS thing...and having fun together!:) We are HOME ... SAFE and WARM!

Ben and Jerry!

Ok... I want to play the NAME GAME too...
Name Game
1)Your Real Name
Robbinette Renee Dillon Shipley
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)
Robizzle
3.YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)
Red Dog
4.YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street)
Renee Camino de Oeste
5.YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name)
Shirobeck
6.YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
White Diet Coke
7.YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (Mother's middle name and father's middle name)
Lee Joseph
8.YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets)
Black Skye

School Days!

Scott starts school today! Isn't he CUTE? :) While most kids are already gone off to college... we are happy to have Scott home for the next 10 months attending Pima Jr. College.... before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...this will be our last Thanksgiving, and Christmas with him for 2 years and we are taking advantage of it!!! Good Luck Scott! :)

Like a good neighbor... Dr. Larry

What a beautiful morning... drizzling rain..
We live on a long dirt road that is not county maintained... so my husband bought this heavy steel rake that hooks up to our truck and drags the road after it rains... we got alot of rain late in the night.. so as usual he was up early before heading off to work... dragging the road..
Our neighbors have all expressed appreciation to him.. they have nice cars and it is much nicer after having the road grated.
As for me... I plan on enjoying the US Open while catching up on laundrey etc.. and hopefully the weather will clear up so I can play tennis tonight.

What a week!

What a week! I was up in Utah all last week and am so glad to be home!
I went to BYU Education Week with friends Linda and Ethel Goodman. I had a wonderful time taking various classes and learning alot about myself and my husband of 28 years.
I took mostly motivational classes... one of my favorites was called Going the Extra Smile! :) As a class we were challenged to:

1. Smile More
2. Smile First
3. Smile Despite...

I tried this all day today... and it made me feel pretty good!

A funny thing happenned to me while I was there.. there are about 35,000 people in attenddance with lots of different lines and at one point I was in a long line and after about 5 min. I thought to ask the lady in front of me what the line was for... so I could confirm I was in the right line.. when she said "Bread Baking".. I said "Pardon me, what class?" and she repeated "Bread Baking".. if you are not already laughing then you dont know me well enough to know that I hightailed it out of there!hah!
Anyway, after the week was over.. off we went to Park City to be cheerleaders for friend Linda competing in a half marathon.. it was really fun and she did really well.. I am proud of her and her accomplishments..
Anyway... it was sure good to get home to my boys.. Larry and Scott!!!:)

I was so exited to wake up this morning and play tennis only to be met with RAIN.. a dreaded 4 letter word in my tennis vocabulary!!! We got 2 sets in tho.. it's all good!
And the best news of the day is the US OPEN begins 2 nite! Woo Hoo!

ok...good!

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Robin goes to Beijing...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Most of you know that tennis is my favorite sport... but I will have you know that in college I was on the Dive Team USA headed on the Olympic trail. My daughter Becky dug up this old video of me.. thought you all might enjoy! :)

Smile... It's the Weekend!

I saw a SMILEY FACE made of tennis balls online a few weeks ago... and I thought to myself... hmmmmmm.... that looks fun... I want to try making one.. so off I went to the Club with my Bag O Tennis Balls... It was not as easy as I thought. The balls were difficult to keep stuck tight in the fence and it was humid outside.. but I persisted with many failed attempts.. frustrated and hot.. I finally got it..well sort of! While taking the 1st photo a ball popped out as you can see... but the 2nd one was a GO! I just noticed the eyeballs are crossed... lol! It was at that moment I realized I should not quit my DAY JOB as a NATIONAL DOUBLES WOMENS TENNIS PLAYER '08 or a PROFESSIONAL BLOGGER...
I did have fun tho and hope you enjoyed this TENNIS' ART NOVEAU! and that it made you SMILE! :)

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Happy Birthday Kathleen!!!

YOU know you are IMPORTANT when you make BLOG HEADLINES!!! :)
I hope you are having a WONDERFUL day today, Kathleen.
You are a wonderful example to me and I appreciate your love and friendship and mostly for putting up with my DAD! haha! I love you both.. Happy Birthday! You look GREAT!
Love, The Good Step-Daughter :) lol j/k

Robin vs. Bag of Cheetos!

( Pictured above was not a good day at Safeway!)

Even tho this bag of Cheetoes is open in the grocery cart..(photo is old).. I am constantly
avoiding the chip aisle at the grocery store. My family knows that Cheetos and Milk is my favorite past time.. weird, I know.. p.s. I am not pregnant although at times I seriously wonder if I could be carrying one of those 30 pound tumors with hair and teeth I have seen on the Discovery Channel. lol.. j/k... well..kudos to me.. I am trying to get into shape for Nationals and have made a personal committment to myself and walked right past those bad babies today at Safeway... chanting to myself..
I will not eat cheetoes!
I will not eat cheetoes!
I will not eat cheetoes!
The poor stock boy just looked at me confused! :)

Yikes! A Rattle Snake!

I decided to take a late night swim tonight... I was too lazy to turn on the pool light... so I just stepped down all three stairs on the island.. swam a few laps.. decided I would like the pool lights on, so that I could see while swimming.. walked up all three steps to turn on the lights.. imagine how creeped out I was to see this rattle snake on the 3rd step.. he was dead.. but still... YIKES!

I am LUCKY!

This is one of my FAVORITE photos of a very happy time in our lives... one of my 2 summer wedding receptions last summer! I love this guy... even more so 27 years later.. even tho he doesn't always understand me..and says he understands me better than I understand myself... he lets ME be ME! I love Larry!!! :)

The Grasshopper and the ANT!

Robin: Grasshopper
Larry: Ant
Scott: Part Grasshopper/ Part Ant
Tonight we went to the Bishop's storehouse to can some carrots, apple slices, powdered milk, wheat and pinto beans.. I was a little aggravated that I had to go because I wanted to go to our Bishop's daughter Maryn's Mission Open house tonight.. I was able to see Maryn ... who looks absolutely beautiful... and bring some chocolate dipped strawberries.. and snap a picture for Alexis ... who checks out the blog each week. If I bring you choco-dipped strawberries that means I really like you.. so Welcome Home Sis. Hillman.... So, poor Larry had to listen to me whine...all the way down to the cannery.. not a good example for Scott , I'm afraid.. but we really did have a GREAT time and got alot accomplished. So, now we have replenished our food storage.. I was caught eatting on the job.. the dehydrated apples are really good! Afterwards... my boyfriend and I went to Macaroni Grill and split a lasagna.. we are home now.. tired..going to sit in the spa.. watch tivoed Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics.

1 more day till the Olympics.....

While at Pei Weis with Larry yesterday.. he came back to the table to find me taking a picture of a fortune cookie.. he was all.. " Why are you taking a picture of a fortune cookie?" and I said.. " I am thinking of a blog idea".. he just rolled his eyes.. haha! Poor Larry! I didnt like my fortune anyway...... it said " Your thirst will be quenched".. what kind of fortune is that? That fortune should have come to me last weekend..
Anyway... we here in Tucson are most excited for the Olympics... of course we are most interested in the swimming competition.. Lacey Nyemeyer is our HOMETOWN GIRL!
We just had Hi Def installed so we can watch the games with clarity and style! Woo Hoo!

Our English Missionary Alexis...

Sis. Ault and Sis. Shipley with Gary (first convert baptism)
Sis. Shipley on a "Double-Decker" Bus
TAXI!
The Hills are Alive... with the Sound of Music!
A Heart drawn on the beach in England for Mum!

What a wonderful surprise to hear from Sis. Shipley via the e-mail... and some great photos....
She expresses her love for the English people and says one of her favorite things are the double decker busses... Pictured above is Sis. Shipley and Sis. Ault (from Denmark) and their first baptism in their area ..a man named Gary who lives there in Durham, England. The one obvious photo of Alexis ... she entitled "The Sound of Music" ... she says there are sheep everywhere..
Another is of her in City Centre catching a taxi for her and Sis. Ault. and the heart in the sand is most special of all.. on her P- day (Prep Day), they get to go visit places, do the stuff they need to get done during the week, shopping, laundrey, e-mailing home etc.. they were able to play volleyball on the beach.. and Alexis knows that the "HEART" is my favorite symbol.. in fact people who know me the best know this... and so I really LOVE this picture.. I may even blow it up and frame it. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ... it has brought the most remarkable blessings into my life.. I am a very blessed person with a wonderful family
and many great friends. Cheers!

What to do?

I am not yet ready to come down off of my tennis high... I am still reeling at what a wonderful weekend I had.. at the friends I have made in the last year... their support and encouragement.
I got a call yesterday with the caller ID from my Bishop.. and as I picked up and said.. what am to say to Bishop about my where abouts yesterday... his wife (good friend) was laughing and was just calling to get an update about our Sectionals.. Thanks for keeping it real Danette... :)
I didn't play tennis this morning... my heart said go and play... my BODY, HOUSE and HUSBAND said NO! So, it is Monday morning.... I am half dressed in a tennis skirt and a dress shirt... barefoot.. dazed, confused.. staring at my tennis bag...what do I do this morning?

Trophy Wives!!! Nationals.... here we come!!!

Congratulations to US! We Did It! We won the SECTIONAL TITLE.... it's on to NATIONALS in October '08! What a day... Marilyn and I won our match 6-3, 6-4... in fact, we won all of our doubles matches together this weekend.. we were UNSTOPPABLE! :) My favorite moment of the entire weekend came yesterday in a match.. we were pretty close to winning the whole thing.. I think it was 40-30 , us... and Marilyn looks at me and says "Don't do anything stupid " , I never laughed so hard.. Thanks Marilyn... you are so good to me! We did win that point and the match.
I have had a memorable weekend indeed..perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity... I love the gals I play with... they motivate me, inspire me and help me be a better person on and off court!
I will say a BIG THANKYOU To my Sister=in-law Susie Shipley for teaching me the game of Tennis... and would suffer thru beating me 6-0,6-0,6-0,6-0,6-0.... you get the point! Not to mention laughing at me when I would throw my raquet and call me a BIG BABY! A year later... and look where I am... Thanks Susie! :) I am going to take a nap... it is Sunday, isnt it?