Happy Father's Day

We are so lucky to have Peter in our family. He is such a great husband and daddy. I am so thankful for all he has done to make it so I can be a stay at home mom, it has not been an easy thing to do-but the rewards of being with the kids day in and day out are worth more than any amount of money the two of us could ever make together. I asked the kids 5 reasons they are thankful for their daddy and this is what they came up with.

1. Daddy plays video games with us
2. Daddy watches movies with us
3. Daddy takes us to mutual when he can
4. Daddy takes me to Home Depot
5. Daddy lets us fix cars with him

Peter is always doing the things with the kids that I don't really feel like doing!They love their dad so much. They go crazy everyday when they hear the garage door open and daddy walks through the door.


Peter and I are also so thankful for our own dads and thankful for all that they have done for us. They are great dads and the best grandpas ever. We love you.

Water, Water, Water!!!

When you live in Arizona and it is 100+ degrees everyday through the summer there is not much to do except be in the water. We had a fun week. The week started out
with going to Tempe Town Lake Splash park with our friends the Wilsteads. And ended with a primary water activity and a trip on the boat. Our highlight of the week was both of the kids getting up on the new water ski-yes both of them(amazing!). Grams and grandpa bought a new trainer water ski for all the grandkids to use and it works perfect. As you can tell from the pictures Ryker wasn't too happy about it, but he did it. Daddy had to help out by holding onto the back of the ski while the kids started out(actually he held onto the ski the whole time with Ryker) but after Ash got her feet in and held onto the rope she was good to go and daddy let go. It was so fun to watch them. Be prepared for a lot more water pictures to come.


This is what an unhappy water skier looks like!






Ashlyn skiing all by herself




Pics. from Tempe Town Lake Splash Park

Daddy met us for lunch





Our Sports Illustrated swimsuit model!





Zak, Ashlyn, Kinzy, & Ryker


Ward primary activity

Graduation, Anniversary, Memorial Day weekend

This was another busy weekend for us. It started off with our princess graduating from preschool. She has learned a ton this year. She started the year off just being able to recognize letters and know which ones were which and now she is reading books almost at a first grade level. She also knows her numbers very well and is already at a first grade level with numbers. She also gained many friends in the process-which really isn't hard for her to do. We loved her teacher Ms. Kerry, she was awesome and does very well with the kids. We are so proud of Ashlyn and can't wait to see her succeed even more.

Our Little Graduate




Ash and Ms. Kerry


Ashlyn, Maddie, Katie



The proud parents



As soon as the graduation was over we headed back down to Tucson. It was Peter and I's 8th anniversary on the 26th(which was memorial day this year). Happy Anniversary honey, I love you! We dropped the kids off and Grams and Grandpas and headed off to spend a night at a hotel(Desert Diamond Hotel and Casino). It was the first time we have ever left both of the kids for a night. We had a great time and only lost $30 trying to make a quick buck!


Saturday morning we woke up, headed to breakfast and then off to get the kids. We went with Grams, Grandpa, Tia, Zack, Carter and Mya on a tram ride up Sabino Canyon and then made the hike back down. Here are some pics. of the hike.






The kids were fascinated by this cardinal, the frog, many lizards, and they loved trying to kill all the ants.







To top the weekend off Monday we were able to get another babysitter for the kids and we golfed 18 holes at Arizona National golf course.

Perfect day for the Phoenix Zoo

Today was the perfect day for the zoo, it is the first day this week that it has been under 100 degrees. It was only in the 70's today, overcast and just a perfect day. We went to the zoo with some friends from the ward there were 4 moms and 8 kids-but we managed and no one got lost! The highlight of the day was when we watched a little animal show and they asked Ashlyn to be the helper. She got to go up on stage and afterwards she got to feed a porcupine.

Ash on stage

A baby orangutan with it's mom

Eating Lunch

The whole crew

Fun weekend in Tucson

This past weekend was a fun one. It all started on Thursday with a fun day at Markessa's house playing in the sandbox. Then Friday we left for Tucson, for our belated Mother's Day weekend. We had a great time, Friday night we got a babysitter to watch all the kids so we could go see Maid of Honor (it was only okay)but we still had a great time. Then Saturday Peter and Grandpa watched all 5 kids all day. The kids had a blast with the two guys, they got to play in the little swim pool, play with bubble guns-and of course a two hour lunch trip to McDonald's. The kids were exhausted when we got home. While the guys watched the kids the girls got to go get pedicures and a massage. It was greatly needed and boy did I enjoy every second of it. Thanks Peter and grandpa for watching the kids so we could have a fun day and thanks Peggy for the great weekend.

All the grandkids in matching Easter outfits