July Fun

Now that August is almost over I thought I should blog about July. The most fun we had was our two weeks in Utah. I always love going there and visiting my family (home is where the heart is)!

We have been doing pretty good about getting in our family home evenings lately. Peter had just finished the fire pit and we decided to do smores for our dessert. Here are some pictures of the enjoyment.

The kids absolutely love when it is time to irrigate the orange trees. Every two weeks you can plan on them being drenched by the water and mud everywhere!

I don't have very many good bath shots lately, and the kids are really getting to old to bathe together anymore so I thought I would throw this one last one in for the fun of it.

Ever seen a Cicada? They are these bugs that make really annoying noises. I had never seen one before but Peter happened to catch this one on camera. He actually caught it coming out of it's shell or larva(whatever you want to call it) and turning into the full size Cicada.

***This years trip to Utah!!!!!!!***

The first day we were in Utah we went up to the Uintahs where my sister Katie's in-laws had some property. We had fun eating hot dogs which we cooked over the camp fire, playing in the woods, and shooting the BB gun with uncle Cale.

After our campfire lunch we headed to Mirror lake to do a little fishing. We didn't catch anything but the kids had a blast!

On our way home we saw some snow and let the kids get out and play with it. Ryker said, "I don't like cold snow!" You can tell he was on 18 months old when we moved to Arizona-he basically has no clue what it is!!! Then we went to Provo falls and hiked around a little bit.

4h of July fun

And some pictures of our adventure at the Living Planet Aquarium.

Salt Lake City Temple

Thank you so much to my family for making this and every trip so much fun. Especially thanks to mom and dad for making the trip possible. We love all you guys.

April, May, & June

So I am finding it harder and harder to blog lately. It is so easy to blog when things in your life are in order and you feel like everything is under control. Some days I wonder, "Do I wake up today? What could possibly be next?"

It has been a really hard and trying last couple of months as we have had family members move away, Peter got laid off over a month ago and still doesn't have a job, our family has been sick for the last two weeks with who knows what, and to top it all off our dog Audi (Auders as the kids would call her) who was 8 years old just passed away. This was particularly hard, we loved her and she was a really good dog, we miss hugging her and having her chase balls out back. She had a few little tricks she liked to do such as, sit, shake, lay, and ballerina-she could jump higher than any other little dog I have ever seen. She will be missed.

On the other hand there have been some bright moments and even though all I feel like doing lately is reflecting on the bad and feeling sorry for myself, I know that life has so much good to give and I look forward to what is ahead.

Better late than never. Easter morning with Kessa and Grady.

Our little skateboarder. Ryker loves being on the skateboard and we just thought he looked cute in this little skate outfit.

My mom and Katie had their annual trip to Arizona at the end of May. We had a great time and I always look forward to seeing them. These are some pictures from their trip-I regret not having my camera more as we had so many fun times. The day after they got here we went on a boat ride-it was so much fun, the kids got in the water but it was FREEZING!

Some pictures from Uncle Dave's airplane at Falcon Field airport. The kids loved being inside of the cockpit. What a beautiful airplane.

Ashlyn's day to golf with Grandma. Ash had made a long list of things to do with Grandma which included golfing, soccer, Hannah Montana movie and other things and Grandma did a great job of doing everything with her.

A day at Freestone park-we had fun but not a place we would go back to.

And to top the week off we had a girls night out at the spa and then to Carrabbas (crappos! lol!) and had the best time ever. Thanks mom and Kate. I love you.

The kids have enjoyed a ride on this cool Chopper.

Ashlyn had her final school play and graduated to First grade-I can't believe it! Time goes by so fast. Her part in the play was "Betsy Ross. We needed a flag for our country was what Washington said, so Betsy Ross went to work with her needle and thread." She recited it with great confidence and we were very proud of her.

Our little Prince graduated Preschool for the first time. Although he will probably graduate two more times he couldn't miss the doughnut party afterwards! Plus he looks super cute in the graduation gown!

Family Pictures 2009

Family Creations

We have made a few things both separately and together as a family, I just thought that I would put them on the blog for fun.

First up is Peter's first work of art that we used to help decorate the house.

Next up is our beautiful garden. This was a project! Peter and I had to move all the dirt out of what is now going to be the fire pit to even make a garden(before I planted it, the ground was just rocks). Peter also had to figure a way to make the sprinkler system work for that area. Then it was all up to me and the kids to plant it. I had gone to a gardening class the week before and they gave me a layout of how to plant things-so I followed it exactly and so far so good! We have 4 tomato plants, 3 cucumbers, some carrots, a squash, some snap peas, onions, stevia(a natural sweetner), an artichoke, some blueberries and strawberries. We will be adding watermelons and pumpkins soon. It is so fun to go out and watch it grow-it is so rewarding after you have spent so much time on it.

Also, I have loved sewing lately-it is so much fun. These are two outfits I made for Ashlyn. The first one I made out of an old jean skirt and a plain pink T-shirt, I just cut off the old sleeves and made them into cap sleeves, then hand sewed on the flower, then I added a ruffle to the bottom of the skirt. The other is a pillowcase dress-I didn't make it out of a pillowcase though-just regular fabric, then added the satin ties to the top and the satin ribbon around the bottom. Both pretty simple projects once you know what you are doing.